The parliamentary commission for culture, education, research, sport and mass media decided to suspend the examination of the bill for amending Civil Code’s article 16 on non-pecuniary damages put forward by the former President of Moldova Vladimir Voronin. The commission could table a new, alternative bill formulated by the civil society, the commission’s chairwoman Corina Fusu told Info-Prim Neo. She shares the civil society’s view that the bill proposed by Vladimir Voronin runs counter to international standards on human rights. At a meeting last week, the commission’s members and representatives of the civil society examined the legislative initiative submitted on June 12, 2008 by Vladimir Voronin and an alternative bill on the freedom of expression, which was drafted by the Independent Journalism Center and is backed by a number of mass media NGOs. The first bill provides for the exclusion of the payment of non-pecuniary damages for damaging the honor, dignity and professional reputation. Experts do not agree with this. At the same time, they say the bill on the freedom of expression is closer to the national and international standards. “The issue concerning the non-pecuniary damages is more complicated. The experts say we should not hurry. We cannot take decisions and adopt laws without discussing them with the civil society and experts first,” Corina Fusu said. Corina Fusu made it clear that the given issue will be included in the bill on the freedom of expression that has greater chances of being debated in the Parliament. Contacted by Info-Prim Neo, jurist-expert Eugeniu Rybka said the bill put forward by Vladimir Voronin runs counter to the European Convention on Human Rights, which says that there should be a balance between the freedom of expression and the person’s right to private life, which includes the honor, dignity and professional reputation. During the commission’s meeting, Eugeniu Rybka suggested examining the civil society’s bill and formulating a more balanced legislative initiative. “I think the bill proposed by the former head of state is an attempt to repeat the experience when article 170 on slander was removed from the Penal Code,” he said. Eugeniu Rybka said there must be a balance between the right to freedom of expression and the right to private life. “Voronin’s bill is in fact opposite to the present situation, when the courts continue to fix exorbitant non-pecuniary damages,” the expert said.