The Civil Code of Ukraine law provides responsibility for defamation, lawyer of the Institute for Mass Information Roman Holovenko said during the round table "The defamation bill: where is crime and what is the punishment?", ForUm correspondent reports.
According to him, in the case of defamation criminalizing, the law would cover all citizens, but it will affect journalists most of all.
"The blow will be particularly notable at the local level," he said, and explained that local journalists are easier to be intimidated with the prosecution and they will just stop writing. "In Kyiv, the journalists are bolder, so there will be more criminal cases," the lawyer predicts.
First secretary of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine Serhiy Tamilenko also criticized the defamation bill. He noted that Ukraine does not defend the rights of journalists and this document is directed "not at protection of the rights, but at the punishment only".
"Politicians impose the view that if there is criminal prosecution, journalism will be quality," he commented ironically.
Tamilenko stressed that professional journalism will be when communication between consumers and media without intermediaries resumes".
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