You're reading: Lawmakers overwhelmingly rescind libel law on Oct. 2

A total of 349 lawmakers out of 450 in the Verkhovna Rada voted this morning to rescind a draconian libel law that would have imprisoned journalists for defamation. The reversal comes two weeks after a majority in the same body -- 244 lawmakers -- voted for the legislation in the first reading.

Lawmakers backed down in the face of overwhelming international and domestic criticism, including from President Viktor Yanukovych, after his pro-presidential Party of Regions supported the law along with the Communist Party and members of Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn's bloc.

"I consider this a victory of civil society and journalists in particular," said Arseniy Yatseniuk, the opposition leader. He also said that he rescheduled a meeting with Yulia Tymoshenko to make it to the vote. The jailed former prime minister is now in a Kharkiv hospital, where she is being treated for spinal hernia.

Party of Regions deputy Vitaliy Zhuravskiy who drafted the libel law held a 30-second press briefing during which he thanked journalists and said: “The issue is now off the agenda.”

The vote comes after hundreds of journalists went to the doorstep of the Verkhovna Rada committee building on the morning Oct. 1 to reinforce the message that lawmakers must rescind a new libel law that calls for imprisoning journalists.

Yanukovych and his Party of Region lawmakers did a quick about-face.

Yuriy Miroshnychenko, a
Party of Region deputy and the president’s representative in
parliament, said he pushed for the law to appear on the agenda on Oct. 2, which might become the last day of voting in the Rada before the Oct. 28 election. 

The law by Zhuravsky proposed steep fines and prison
terms of up to five years for journalists who spread libel and defamed
public figures. It also allowed courts to ban journalists from
their profession for several years. But the law could apply to all
citizens.

Journalists said the law
would effectively censor free speech and freedom of the press in the
nation, since few would be willing to risk the punishment for
investigating corruption and other crimes among the nation’s elite

“It will kill
journalistic investigations. There will be an opportunity to write
only about celebrities and fashion if it is adopted,” said Maryna
Makushchenko, a reporter from 1+1 TV channel, during the Oct. 1 protest. Like many other
journalists, Makuschenko came to the protest holding a white sheet of
paper, symbolizing an attempt to silence free speech.

Ukrainian journalists protested against the law since its passage on Sept. 18. Black banners
went up on many websites against the new libel law, followed by blank
or protest-themed front pages by about a dozen of nation’s leading
newspapers and magazines.

In the meantime, several
international organizations, including watchdogs Reporters Without
Borders and Article 19, condemned the legislation.

Zhuravsky, the author
of the law, said he will return to the proposal after the Oct. 28
election.

“I stand by my political
positions and convictions: for a long time there has been a need in
society to increase responsibility for infringement on the honor and
dignity of every person, not just a politician,” Zhuravsky said in
a statement on the Party of Regions website on Sept. 25.

His faction, however, has decided to recommend him to send his proposals to the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional matters that analyses major laws and makes recommendations whether it would be beneficial for the nation to approve them.