MOSCOW, December 14 - RAPSI. The Presidential Human Rights Council believes that it is necessary to introduce amendments to the Criminal Code articles regulating the activities of journalists, to more clearly define the term "slander," and to impose criminal liability for prosecuting citizens who publicly criticize officials.

A list of recommendations from the council on the security of journalists was submitted during a special council meeting.

In addition to specifying the definition of slander, the council proposed decriminalizing public criticism of the authorities, improving mechanisms to combat corruption in the media, setting bans on the publication of biased articles, and obligating officials to respond to media criticism within two weeks.

The council said that that the return of provisions on slander to the criminal laws might result in its further to prosecute journalists for the criticism of officials.