BRUSSELS – Concerns have eased in the European Union over Ukraine's plans to criminalize libel, as the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, cancelled its decision to pass the bill at first reading.
“The news from Kyiv about the decision of the Ukrainian parliament to
end work on the bill amending the Criminal Code and the Criminal
Procedure Code for the criminalization libel put an end to our concerns
about this bill,” Peter Stano, the spokesman of EU Commissioner for
Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule, said in an
interview with an Interfax-Ukraine reporter on October 2.
At the same time, Stano noted that the European Commission is
thoroughly monitoring the issue and keeps in touch with CoE and OSCE
experts, as well as Ukrainian journalists.
“We stated earlier that the prospect of amending the legislation
raised our concern about a possible negative influence on freedom of the
media, especially during the election campaign,” he said.
As reported, the Verkhovna Rada cancelled the bill introducing
amendments to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code of
Ukraine concerning the tightening of responsibility for infringements of
honor, dignity and business reputation on October 2, 2012.
On September 18, 2012 the parliament passed at first reading the bill
that proposed adding Article 145-1 on libel to the Criminal Code.
A national protest against the adoption of the bill started in
Ukraine on September 25, 2012. A number of well-known media joined the
protest.
On the same day, the author of the libel bill, Regions Party
parliamentary faction MP Vitaliy Zhuravsky, registered at the parliament
a draft instruction on the cancellation of a decision by the Verkhovna
Rada to pass at first reading the bill on amendments to the Criminal
Code and the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine on toughening
punishments for the infringement of the honor, dignity and business
reputation of a person.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych criticized the bill on the criminalization of libel.
