Democratization should remove this remnant of past enslavement of the citizen to the state,' he added.

'Unfortunately, such lack of differentiation is still widespread in post-Communist democracies. Haraszti was also critical of the draft law's failure to differentiate between the liability of state officials who leak information and the liability of civilians, including journalists. Without such a clause, there can be no efficient fight, inter alia, against corruption.' 'It does not allow for sanctions to be lifted in cases where the published information turns out to be of public importance. 'The provision does not acknowledge several international media freedom standards,' Haraszti wrote in a letter to the President. On 5 February, the Czech Chamber of Deputies approved the new Criminal Code with a new ban on disclosing conversations wiretapped by the police unless they were used as evidence in court, despite the Senate's opposition. He also criticized the code for failing to decriminalize defamation.

Haraszti objected to the code's provision that could sentence journalists to up to five years in prison and a fine of up to five million crowns for the publication of conversations wiretapped by the police. VIENNA, 11 February 2009 - The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, today called on Czech President Vaclav Klaus to veto the draft criminal code and request Parliament to change provisions that threaten media freedom.

Criminal watchdog