Ukrainian MP Proposes Law to Jail Critics of the Regime

The bill, tabled by Konstantin Mateichenko of the Popular Front and the commander of a volunteer battalion, fighting in eastern Ukraine, envisages jail terms of up to three years for “intentional actions aimed at undermining the authority of the national government”.

According to media reports, the draft does not require any prior endorsement from the Ukrainian public.

Mateichenko proposes adding to the penal code a clause providing punishment for “public defamation <…> or any other action aimed at undermining state authority “and also for “cynical disregard” of the powers-that-be and the “state as a whole”.

The violators may also face prison terms of up to six months, or community service.