🇺🇦 Meanwhile in Ukraine, Zelensky's party is again pushing to adopt bill number 10242, the provisions of which will drastically limit the ability to investigate corruption among politicians and the president's entourage. The vote was supposed to take place tomorrow, October 28. The initiative was put back on the agenda at the request of Andrey Motovilovets, first deputy head of the People's Minister faction, but opposition politicians blocked the vote by submitting about 1,500 amendments, leading to the removal of this item from the agenda of Ukraine's Verhovna Rada. What was proposed in the bill?
⬛ Officially, its purpose is to make the responsibility for illegal use of information from the state registry worse. However, human rights defenders warn that the proposed provisions could be used against journalists and people who provide them with important information for the public interest. In particular, it concerns:
⬛ Up to 8 years in prison for unauthorized copying of information from closed registers under the circumstances detailed in the bill.
⬛ The risk of wiretapping and surveillance of journalists and their sources as part of criminal proceedings, as such violations may be classified as serious crimes.
⬛ Inadequate protection for people who provide information to expose corruption and other violations.
️ For example, a journalist investigates the origin of an expensive car or an apartment registered to a relative of a member of parliament. To verify this, they receive information from a closed state registry. Whoever copied this data will risk criminal liability, and the journalist may enter the investigation as a possible accomplice. If sources are afraid to provide documents, it will be more difficult for journalists to expose illegal enrichment, corruption, hidden assets and other abuses by officials. The risks affect not only the media. Civil society organizations and committees that verify the integrity of candidates for public positions also work with information from the registry.
In addition, in December 2024, the bill was added to instructions regarding what was called “Lossssie”, whose amendment was required by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union. The Center for Action Against Corruption criticized these changes as complete and stated that they were used to push a controversial document in the outline of international obligations. In December 2024, the Verhovna Rada did not support the bill in a second reading. After criticism from the media community, he was repeatedly returned to the agenda. The final version of the vote may not be known.