KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — An international media watchdog urged Ukrainian lawmakers on Wednesday to reject a bill that would make defamation a crime, saying it could “threaten the very existence of independent journalism.”
This week Ukraine’s parliament, dominated by President Viktor Yanukovych’s allies, tentatively approved a bill that would make defamation punishable by up to five years in prison, restoring a Soviet-era practice that Ukraine abolished 11 years ago.
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