You're reading: Lawmakers reverse themselves on Oct. 2 to kill criminal libel law

Bowing to international criticism, 349 lawmakers out of 450 in the Verkhovna Rada voted on Oct. 2 to rescind a draconian libel law that would have imprisoned journalists for defamation.

The reversal came two weeks after a majority in the same body – 244 lawmakers – voted for the legislation in the first reading.

Even though the law won initial passage from the pro-presidential Party of Regions, President Viktor Yanukovych came out against the law after its passage and urged the measure’s sponsor, Party of Regions deputy Vitaliy Zuraskiy, to kill the legislation. Zuraskiy also found support from the Communist Party and members of Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn’s bloc. Zhuravskiy held a 30-second press briefing, during which he thanked journalists and said: “The issue is now off the agenda.”

Opposition leader and former parliament speaker Arseniy Yatseniuk called the quick and decisive reversal “a victory of civil society and journalists in particular.”

Only a day before the vote, hundreds of journalists went to the doorstep of the Verkhovna Rada committee building on the morning of Oct. 1 to reinforce their opposition to the law that could have imprisoned journalists for up to five years for publishing libelous or broadcasting slanderous stories. News organizations also faced heavy fines and journalists could face additional bans on working in their profession if a judge decided so.

While journalists were the target, the law would have applied 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. 

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, including the Kyiv Post.

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

Zhuravsky, however, 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.