“On September 21, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine registered the Bill No. 14057, which provides for significant changes to the Civil Code. The journalists noted that he proposes to automatically recognize any information that is not confirmed by the court’s conviction, and even punished with subjective evaluative judgments of the draft law, initiated by dozens of deputies, including the head of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk. They claim that”, – WRITE ON: ua.news
On September 21, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine registered the Bill No. 14057, which provides for significant changes to the Civil Code. Journalists appenudy attention that he offers automatically recognized inaccurate any information that is not confirmed by a court convictionand punish even for subjective judgment evaluative
The draft law, initiated by dozens of deputies, in particular the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk, caused a sharp criticism from journalists and human rights defenders. They claim that the adoption of this bill can lead to censorship, self -censorships and mass lawsuits against the media, which is in fact blocking independent journalistic investigations.
Journalists and human rights activists distinguish three basic, in their opinion, dangerous rules of the bill:
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The presumption of innocence: the bill proposes to consider inaccurate any information that violates the presumption of innocence until the person is guilty of a person’s indictment. This can block corruption and abuse publications as lawsuits can last for years.
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Compensation for non -pecuniary damage: the document allows you to collect compensation for “evaluation judgments”, if they, according to the plaintiff, humiliate its honor, dignity or reputation. Experts believe that this opens the path to lawsuits against journalists for any criticism.
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“Right to oblivion”: the bill allows to require the removal or blocking of information if it is “irrelevant”, “incomplete” or “lost public interest”. These blurred formulations can allow even reliable materials that are of great social importance.
The Media Institute (IMI) notes that the bill also extends the right to answer and refute, which can destroy editorial control and professional standards of journalism.
Speaker of BP Ruslan Stefanchuk states that the bill aims to update the Civil Code in accordance with European standards and is not directed against the media. He argues that most criticizing norms already exist in the legislation, and changes only specify them. Stefanchuk proposed to hold a public meeting for discussion and revision of the document.
Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, acknowledged that he had made mistakes by signing the bill without proper examination of mediaists, and withdrew his signature.
Other deputies, such as Mykola Knyazhitsky, agree that the document needs revision, but support its general principle. At the same time, Maryana Bezugla and Alexey Goncharenko made a sharp criticism, calling the bill an attempt to introduce censorship.
“For example, there are the following rules: if the information is not enshrined in a court sentence, it cannot be published. Decipher: if the corruption is judged for corruption, then the journalist cannot be written until the corrupt officer is sentenced. Meanwhile, the courts can last more than one month, ”Goncharenko said.
Meanwhile, the National Police of Ukraine launched a pre -trial investigation into political censorship in The only news.
Read also: How the state destroys journalism and creates the basis for hostile IPSO: Interview with Igor Mosiychuk.
