Law proposal: Country denigration might be punished with prison in Romania

Public manifestations meant to denigrate Romania and the Romanian nation might be punished with prison, according to a draft bill submitted to the Senate by a group of MPs. The bill’s promoters want to reintroduce the “country or nation denigration” offense in the Criminal Code. Thus, those who denigrate Romania might get prison sentences of up to three years, reports local Mediafax. In the explanatory memorandum, the MPs talk about the events that took place in Targu Secuiesc on December 1 last year (Romania’s National Day), when a man, who was part of a Hungarian extremist movement, tried to detonate an explosive device. They also exemplified other situations in which historical figures were symbolically hanged, or when citizens of other ethnicities acted on Romania’s National Day as if it was a day of mourning. New law that sanctions social defamation raises wave of criticism in Romania Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com