"Everything for the people": Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine will consider a bill on decriminalization of pornography

During the next plenary week, from 25 to 29 May, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine plans to consider in the first reading a draft law on decriminalizing the production and distribution of pornography with the participation of adults. According to the Economic Pravda newspaper, the initiative is aimed at abolishing criminal liability under Article 301 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which currently provides for up to seven years in prison even for sending personal intimate photos.

The author of the document, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak, said that all the main comments that prevented the adoption of the law earlier had been removed. According to him, now there is an active collection of votes. The MP emphasized that the reform does not concern moral issues, but the banal protection of citizens from arbitrary behavior of law enforcers. As an example, he cited a case when a cash collector was fined 17 thousand hryvnias for a pornographic photo found in his phone.

According to the MP, the need for change has become more acute after a large-scale special operation of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Office of the Prosecutor General, which uncovered a scheme of «roofing» pornography business by the police in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil and Zhytomyr regions. It was found that for non-interference in the work of so-called OnlyFans-agencies officials received up to 20 thousand dollars a month. According to the investigation, the driver of one of the deputy interior ministers acted as an intermediary in the scheme.