Rada to revisit bill on prison for journalists over data from state registries

Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada this week again put bill No. 10242 up for consideration, which provides for up to five years in prison for journalists and their sources for the unauthorized disclosure of information from state registries, including data on officials’ personal property.

This was reported by Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, head of the parliamentary committee on freedom of speech, who spoke out against adopting the document.

According to the lawmaker, the bill appeared on the agenda at the moment the budget was being considered.

“It appeared on the agenda at the moment the budget was being considered. Therefore I do not rule out that it was proposed to some part of the hall in exchange for votes for the budget,” Yurchyshyn said.

As the original publication recalls, on December 4, 2024, the Rada did not support this bill in the second reading.

Media and human rights organizations urged parliament not to support the bill, calling it a threat to freedom of speech and to the work of journalists who investigate corruption in Ukraine.

The bill itself proposes supplementing the Criminal Code with a new article that criminalizes unauthorized access to, obtaining and dissemination of information from state registries during martial law. In particular, this concerns the copying, sale or dissemination of restricted information — including confidential information, personal data and official information stored in these registries.

At the same time, most investigations into the illegal enrichment of officials and the purchase of luxury real estate during the war are based precisely on extracts and data from state databases.

Initially, a penalty of up to eight years’ imprisonment was proposed, but by the second reading the term was reduced to five years.

We previously wrote that the SBU threatened Ukrainians with prison for publishing footage of air attacks and air defense operations.