You're reading: Friday’s headlines: President signs bills into law, lawyers parse through new laws, lawmakers caught piano voting

Editor’s Note: In this feature, the Kyiv Post brings together the most relevant news from the morning’s headlines.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych late on Jan. 16 signed into law five bills intended to crack down on anti-government demonstrations that were passed by parliament earlier in the day, reports Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, citing sources inside the presidential administration.

The president’s press office could not immediately be reached for comment by Kyiv Post, and no statement regarding Yanukovych signing the bills has been posted to the administration’s official website.

A number of pro-government lawmakers, including Oleksandr Kuzmuk of the Party of Regions during yesterdays voting for the 2014 draft budget 2014 submitted votes by machine for themselves as well as their absent fellow lawmakers, Ukrainska Pravda reports, citing opposition member of parliament Andriy Shevchenko.

A video published by Dmitry Chigrin, a press officer for opposition faction Batkivschyna, shows Kuzmuk voting for the draft budget on both his voting machine and his neighboring lawmaker. 

Lawyers at law firm Jurimex have fleshed out the major changes that apply to citizens’ right to information dissemination, which include criminalizing defamation and extremism, as well as the ability to shut down internet media, reports media watchdog Telekritika.

Meanwhiloe, Livy
Bereg news site made a detailed analysis of the most
controversial law adopted on Thursday submitted by lawmakers Vadym
Kolesnichenko and Volodymyr Oliynyk, both from the Party of Regions. “The
draft law is so savage and distant from democracy that it could be
described as totalitarian,” the newspaper writes.

Kommersant
Ukraine newspaper writes about the troubles of Ukrsibbank, a member of BNP
Paribas Group, regarding the return of $100 million loan from AIS group of companies owned by two lawmakers of Party of Regions. Failing to get its money
back through courts, the bank even sent an open letter to President
Viktor Yanukovych
, asking him to get involved.