Deputies introduce censorship under the guise of “protecting lawyers”
фотоколаж: фундація DEJURE
Source: Author’s Facebook page
Details about Bill 12320 on the attack on freedom of speech, which was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada in the second reading.
For the sentence “Vitaly Serdyuk was Viktor Yanukovych’s lawyer” a journalist can now be held administratively liable and fined up to 13 thousand hryvnias. The Verkhovna Rada adopted the law (№12320). 262 people’s deputies voted “for” – this is a collaboration between “servants”, ex-OPZZH and “Batkivshchyna”.
Formally, to “not identify the lawyer with the client.” And in fact, to prohibit any mention, criticism, and investigation if the lawyer appears in them.
The prohibition of identification is established by key international documents. Its purpose is to protect a lawyer from persecution or pressure, primarily from the state and its law enforcement agencies. Draft Law No. 12320 distorts the meaning of this concept and wants to “protect” lawyers from journalists and the public, not from state agencies.
The authors of the bill are the National Association of Bars of Ukraine (NAAU), an organization that has been encroaching on the freedom of speech of lawyers and journalists for years. Its leader, Lidia Izovitova, is linked to traitor Viktor Medvedchuk.
Overall, this initiative looks like a conspiracy by pro-Russian forces and their sympathizers to silence journalists and continue the rollback of democracy in Ukraine.
The bill was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada by Hryhoriy Mamka from the former OPZZH, Maksym Buzhansky, known for his pro-Russian statements, and Serhiy Ionushas from the “servants,” who is also the head of the Rada’s law enforcement committee. An amendment to the text, which effectively prohibits any mention of a lawyer’s involvement in a client’s case, was submitted by Antonina Slavytska, a figure in the OASK tapes and a former OPZZH deputy close to Pavlo Vovk.
Bill No. 12320 is another attempt to curtail democracy in Ukraine.
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