Bill No. 14057 states that until court ruling, any hint of corruption is deemed false and subject to refutation – Shalaiskyi
Bill No. 14057, which proposes amendments to the Civil Code, states that until there is a court ruling, any suggestion that someone is a corrupt official is considered false and therefore subject to refutation.
Oleksа Shalaiskyi, co-founder of the Nashi Hroshi portal, wrote about this on Facebook, Censor.NET reports.
He drew attention to a post by Verkhovna Rada Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, in which the latter defended the draft law that, in effect, undermines investigative journalism.
"I will focus on just one point, the most important one. Draft law No. 14057 introduces the following provision: ‘Information that violates the presumption of innocence is considered false until a person’s guilt... is established by a court conviction.’ Stefanchuk claims that journalists have misunderstood everything and justifies his stance with three arguments: the Constitution, several ECHR rulings, and the PACE Code of Ethics. But the article of the Constitution he refers to deals with criminal prosecution of an innocent person by the authorities; the ECHR rulings he cites concern improper statements about a person made by senior government officials," Shalayskyi wrote.
The journalist noted that the PACE Code of Ethics advises journalists to take into account the presumption of innocence.
"Let me stress: it does not order, it only advises. No one disputes that. But the controversial draft law says something completely different. It states that until there is a court ruling, any hint of someone being corrupt is deemed FALSE, and therefore subject to refutation. And then it lays out a dozen new articles on how such refutations must be carried out. I don’t know who wrote Stefanchuk’s response, but to actually believe that journalists won’t re-read the Constitution or review the ECHR rulings — you’d have to be completely detached from reality," Shalayskyi added.
Earlier it was reported that on 21 September, a group of MPs submitted to the Verkhovna Rada draft law No. 14057, which provides for amendments to the Civil Code.
