MP from "People's Front" proposes Parliament punish criticism of authorities with up to 3 years prison time

The member of the Parliament from the “People's Front”, Kostyantyn Mateichenko, registered in the Parliament a draft law No.2225 on amendment to the Criminal Code of Ukraine (concerning preservation of the state's authority), which provides for criminal responsibility for criticism of the authorities.

The MP proposes to amend the current Criminal Code with article 339-1 “Intentional actions for undermining the authority of state and governmental agencies”, which identifies and defines that actions taken to undermine authority of the state and its agencies are a crime. For such action, the draft offers to punish people with up to 3 years in prison.

The memo for this law indicates that the draft "does not require consultations with the public".

Later, it became known that  Mateichenko retracted the draft as he believes it now is worded ambiguously. He intended this draft to cover punishment not for criticism of the authorities but for desecration of the national symbols of Ukraine as in the East of Ukraine it was desecration of the Ukrainian flag and the Ukrainian emblem that signaled the beginning of the pro-Russian separatists’ actions.