Kniazhytskyi: The Regime Wants to Install Dictatorship in Ukraine

The Director General of the TVi channel Mykola Kniazhytkyi commented on the passing of the bill 'On changes into the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes regarding the enforcement of responsibility for endeavors against honor, dignity, and business reputation of a person'.

"For me personally it is a truly sad page in Ukrainian history because I was the first journalist against whom criminal charges were filed in 1992 according to the law on defamation when it was still a criminal violation. I was dragged to interrogations and spent hours in the Attorney General's Office. I was accused of defamation regarding the then President Leonid Kravchuk. I consider the reinstatement of criminal responsibility an attempt to install dictatorship in Ukraine," said Kniazhytskyi.

He noted that holding the journalists or citizens criminally liable for defamation considering the lack of independent justice is "unambiguously installment of dictatorship." "That is why I think the journalists and the society need to choose, to see where there is good and where there is evil and stand up for their rights," noted Kniazhytskyi.