Senators in defense of press freedom

A group of Czech senators say they are determined to fight a controversial article of the penal code which has come under fire for curtailing press freedom. The respective amendment, which went into effect on April 1st, bans journalists from releasing the names of crime victims and publishing the contents of police wiretappings. The article was originally meant to protect victims from undesirable publicity, but its critics say it has been tailored to protect politicians from possible negative publicity. Senate deputy chairman Petr Pithart, one of the law’s leading critics, said he and 17 other senators were planning to lodge a complaint about it to the Constitutional Court.