Bill banning esoteric services submitted to Rada

Esoteric paraphernalia against the backdrop of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada. Photo: open sources

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has received Bill No. 15251, which would introduce liability for paid services in the fields of fortune-telling, magic, esotericism, and occultism, as well as for advertising such activities. Interfax-Ukraine reported this.

The initiator of the document is Heorhiy Mazurashu, a people’s deputy from the Servant of the People faction. The bill proposes a new version of Article 181 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses (CUAO – the body of rules on administrative liability), which previously concerned gambling and fortune-telling in public places. Under the initiative, such services would be punishable by a fine of 1,000 to 2,000 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens, with confiscation and disposal of the items used in this activity.

In the explanatory note, the authors state that the purpose of the amendments is to protect citizens from the influence of esoteric practices. For a repeated violation, the sanction would increase to 12,000 non-taxable minimums. At this stage, the bill must pass through the relevant committee and be considered in the session hall.

As the UOJ reported, a VRU MP said that lawmakers in the Rada consult fortune-tellers. After that, the topic of esoteric practices being involved in public politics was discussed in Ukrainian media, while government representatives publicly denied that such consultations had taken place in the Office of the President.

Read also