You're reading: Freedom House calls on Rada to put stop to defamation bill

The international non-governmental organization Freedom House has condemned the defamation bill and called on the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, to remove the bill from the agenda.

“Freedom House condemns the initiative to recriminalize defamation in
Ukraine and calls on the Ukrainian parliament to remove the bill from
consideration,” reads a press release of the organization, which has
been posted on its Web site on Monday, Oct.1.

According to President of Freedom House David J. Kramer, “a clear and
concerted effort to restrict free expression and free coverage of the
electoral campaign in Ukraine” can be seen in the document.

The organization also stressed that the situation with freedom of
speech has become difficult in Ukraine over several recent months.

“The past several months have seen a number of worrying developments
for press freedom and the freedom of expression in Ukraine,” reads the
press release.

Freedom House recalled about the situation with the TVi Channel and the Ukrainian Week magazine.

“Ukraine’s European partners should be asking Ukraine hard questions
about these worrying developments and should make it clear that there’s
no place in Europe for intimidation and persecution of the media,”
Kramer said.