22:22 01.10.2012

Freedom House calls on Ukrainian parliament to put stop to defamation bill

1 min read

The international non-governmental organization Freedom House has condemned the defamation bill and called on the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, to remove the bill from the agenda.

"Freedom House condemns the initiative to recriminalize defamation in Ukraine and calls on the Ukrainian parliament to remove the bill from consideration," reads a press release of the organization, which has been posted on its Web site on Monday.

According to President of Freedom House David J. Kramer, "a clear and concerted effort to restrict free expression and free coverage of the electoral campaign in Ukraine" can be seen in the document.

The organization also stressed that the situation with freedom of speech has become difficult in Ukraine over several recent months.

"The past several months have seen a number of worrying developments for press freedom and the freedom of expression in Ukraine," reads the press release.

Freedom House recalled about the situation with the TVi Channel and the Ukrainian Week magazine.

"Ukraine's European partners should be asking Ukraine hard questions about these worrying developments and should make it clear that there's no place in Europe for intimidation and persecution of the media," Kramer said.

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