Ominous warning regarding libel law

Protest against the libel law on 1 October 

Not unexpectedly, the Party of the Regions is making it abundantly clear that they have not given up the idea of measures against “libel”. 

Party of the Regions MP Olena Bondarenko told journalists that the Party of the Regions is not guaranteeing that it will not return to the libel law after the elections.

“”We will not give guarantees. Everything will be dependent only on the situation in the country.”

“In the given situation the ball is in the court of the journalist pool because the problem of the use of libel in journalists’ work remains. Nobody has removed it. If you take any country where there is such criminal liability, the State has essentially interfered in regulation of the market”.

She said that if the journalist community do not engage in libel, then MPs will not introduce such laws. Asked whether in such situations administrative liability was not enough, she answered “unfortunately, no.”