The Argentine government said on Friday it would submit a bill to the Congress to abolish the crime of defamation to ensure people's freedom of speech.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez said she would rather identify the responsible words out of a thousand lies than deprive people of their rights to express opinions and ideas.

"This is the way I understand democratic freedom," Fernandez said in a national address to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the historic visit by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) during the military rule in 1979.

"The government will guarantee more freedom of speech and I doubt there has been any stage in the country where people could have more freedom to speak than my era," she said.

The president made the remarks in response to the IACHR's condemnation for the "Kimel case" involving a renowned journalist, who revealed the finding of five clergymen murdered in 1976 by paramilitary groups.

Eduardo Kimel criticized in one of his books the handling of the murder case by Judge Guillermo Rivarola between 1976 and 1997.

However, Kimel was sentenced to one-year imprisonment and payment of some 5,200 U.S. dollars in fine after Judge Rivarola brought libel charge against him.

The IACHR said that the Argentine government's interference with Kimel's freedom of speech is "disproportionate and excessive."

(Xinhua News Agency September 12, 2009)