Verkhovna Rada voted in first reading on bill No. 14057 on right of corrupt officials to silence journalists
On 5 November, the Verkhovna Rada passed the first reading of draft law No. 14057, which could create new mechanisms for censorship and complicate the work of independent media against top corrupt officials.
This was reported by the Anti-Corruption Centre, according to Censor.NET.
The bill could restrict the work of journalists
Bill No. 14057 gives people involved in corruption investigations the right to delete critical stuff about themselves and force journalists to keep quiet.
The authors of the bill to curb journalists are mainly deputies from the Servant of the People party (139 people), but in fact, deputies from all factions voted for it.
Initiators
The main initiator of the bill is Verkhovna Rada Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk.
Other authors include, for example, the odious MP Maksym Buzhanskyi and Andrii Klochko, who is suspected of illegal enrichment after a report by Bihus.Info, Bohdan Torokhtii, who is also mentioned in their material, and MP Roman Kaptielov, whose undeclared apartment in Moscow was reported by Schemes, after which NABU opened a case.
The bill plays into the hands of corrupt officials
"Dozens of them have been featured in journalistic investigations. Most of them would like journalists to be unable to expose them and damage their already tarnished reputations. If the bill is passed in its entirety, journalists risk facing millions in lawsuits and the threat of censorship by the courts," the CPC emphasises.
For example, the bill contains a provision that proposes to automatically recognise information that is not confirmed by a court ruling as unreliable.
Corrupt officials, on the other hand, will get a legal mechanism to hide their abuses, block exposure, and cleanse archives of inconvenient materials.
"And all this rubbish was approved by MPs the day after the European Commission's report. We hope that all the provisions will be removed before the second reading," they added.
