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Рy22 July 2016
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The Ministry of Home Affairs proposed to establish criminal punishment for the dissemination of genocide and racism on the Internet. To what extent are such stipulations justified by the presence of these phenomena in the online space of the Republic of Moldova? The journalist Ivan Sveatcenсo and his guests, the director of the Resource Centre for Human Rights RCHR, Sergiu Ostaf, and the journalist Serghei Ilicenco discuss about this in the show "Media Azi".
According to Sergiu Ostaf in the recent one and a half years, such information was present on the Internet even if it didn't refer to the online space from Moldova, but to the geographic area close to our country. However, "genocide is a too harsh statement, I haven't seen such a thing, but xenophobia very much, when they make statements that put in inferiority the representatives of other ethnicities or nations", says the director of RCHR.
At his turn, Serghei Ilicenco, the activist and journalist who went through a lawsuit on the left bank of the Nistru river, where such a law functions, says: "I was assigned a material that appeared on the Internet which I didn't write, but because of the fact that there was a stipulation in the legislation which allowed suing for such actions, it allowed them to arrest me, judge and punish with the maximum penalty- till 5 years of prison".
"I don't know if we need or don't need such a law, but I know that we live in a society that is not guided by certain moral norms" claims the journalist from Tiraspol. In his opinion, such a law could become a bat with which to teach a lesson the uncomfortable people, when they try to say something "against the organized business".
On the other hand, Sergiu Ostaf is more optimistic, considering that there are sufficient democratic institutions capable not to allow this thing in the Republic of Moldova.
The participants at the show approach other aspects of the problem too. For example, how will the criminal punishment be applied for the propagation of genocide and racism, if the term of propaganda is not defined in the national legislation? Could such a law put pressure on journalists who activate in the online press, especially in the electoral periods? What is the situation of the Republic of Moldova in this field, in comparison with the situation from the Russian Federation, the Ukraine, Romania, Hungary and Turkey?
The show "Media Azi" is realized by the Independent Journalism Centre and appears weekly on the sites Media Azi, Mediacritica and You Tube.
According to Sergiu Ostaf in the recent one and a half years, such information was present on the Internet even if it didn't refer to the online space from Moldova, but to the geographic area close to our country. However, "genocide is a too harsh statement, I haven't seen such a thing, but xenophobia very much, when they make statements that put in inferiority the representatives of other ethnicities or nations", says the director of RCHR.
At his turn, Serghei Ilicenco, the activist and journalist who went through a lawsuit on the left bank of the Nistru river, where such a law functions, says: "I was assigned a material that appeared on the Internet which I didn't write, but because of the fact that there was a stipulation in the legislation which allowed suing for such actions, it allowed them to arrest me, judge and punish with the maximum penalty- till 5 years of prison".
"I don't know if we need or don't need such a law, but I know that we live in a society that is not guided by certain moral norms" claims the journalist from Tiraspol. In his opinion, such a law could become a bat with which to teach a lesson the uncomfortable people, when they try to say something "against the organized business".
On the other hand, Sergiu Ostaf is more optimistic, considering that there are sufficient democratic institutions capable not to allow this thing in the Republic of Moldova.
The participants at the show approach other aspects of the problem too. For example, how will the criminal punishment be applied for the propagation of genocide and racism, if the term of propaganda is not defined in the national legislation? Could such a law put pressure on journalists who activate in the online press, especially in the electoral periods? What is the situation of the Republic of Moldova in this field, in comparison with the situation from the Russian Federation, the Ukraine, Romania, Hungary and Turkey?
The show "Media Azi" is realized by the Independent Journalism Centre and appears weekly on the sites Media Azi, Mediacritica and You Tube.
