State Duma approved measures against media
The upper house in the Russian parliament, the State Duma, last Friday in a first reading approved a bill enabling law enforcement authorities to clamp down on mass media. Critics fear that the new measures might be used to crack down on dissents.
The bill would add “dissemination of deliberately false information damaging individual honor and dignity” to the list of offenses for which a media outlet can be shut down, the Moscow Times reports. Under current law, courts can close media outlets for publishing state secrets, extremist statements and statements supporting terrorism.
