The bill “on Citizens Violated the Order Escaping Compulsory Military Service” was discussed during the session of the Committee on Defence and Security Affairs of the Parliament. The main reporter, Karine Achemyan informed that a number of our citizens wait for the adoption of this bill. The bill has been authored by a few MPs, however, she has made some changes and the Ministry of Defence also has its input. The members of the Committee had opposing and varying opinions. RPA MP Alik Sargsyan asked – regardless of in what condition he is – if an investigation, if not, can he return if he is already 27? Karine Achemyan gave a positive answer – yes, they can pay and the criminal investigation will be terminated.
Felix Tsolakyan asked – why do we need the term then? Karine Achemyan replied that the Ministry of Defence is against for it to be termless, forasmuch as it may encourage the escape from military service and suggests that the prolongation of the term is for the last time, no changes of terms will be possible via law. Alik Sargsyan asked: “Of course, defining a term is understandable has a preventive character. But let me bring such an example – a man has left for Europe since the age of 3 with his parents, now he is 27, for example, and a French citizen, now when he comes back as a citizen of another country, how will we treat him? The deadline of the Armenian passport has expired, it is not valid. If we will not give a citizenship, then how, for example, will we treat the citizen of France?”
ARF member Romik Manukyan found the amount of money which the young men above 27 years old should pay, needs a discussion. Felix Tsolakyan finds that charging 9 million AMD from all young people is a very large amount. As stated by him, people not having money will not come to Armenia, will remain in Russia, in other countries, and to define that expensive charge means to tell them not to come.
Deputy Minister of Defence, Artak Zakaryan was regularly reminding of the policy of the Ministry of Defence during the discussion, that they speak of escaping the military service, the ones who have not served and the amount should not be ridiculous enough to be a topic of “ridiculing” the Ministry of Defence and all the ones who have served. As stated by Artak Zakaryan: “Changes were being made in the law for the young men who had appeared in that situation not willingly, deriving from the conditions every time. Now they think to define one universal regulation for all. 9 million is not a high price, it is not in all cases that all the calls for conscription are skipped, it is the maximum. The young people should fulfill their civil obligation without having in mind that they can go, then bribe someone and come back. The ones who have skipped 18 calls for conscription, can be though have done it on purpose. The route of the escapers from army service is closed this way… If even 2 calls have been skipped, then the right to deferment for the reason of health issue has been acquired, he is still to pay for the calls skipped. In the most of the cases the parents choose those devious roads for their children, thus the parents should think about the consequences. We should hereinafter refuse the policy giving the consciousness of the people an opportunity to calculate – when he gets to the age, we will give the money and will not send to the army. We will not be just towards our armed forces, that people, knowing beforehand that they will leave for abroad, will return after several years, pay and wonder about with the military license in their pocket. We finish the opportunity of prolonging the law later on.”
Felix Tsolakyan asked – notwithstanding the fact that the amount is high, the people having that much money will not return, another issue is in place as well: “For instance, the term has expired, he does not have that money to pay, he has come to Armenia, what will we do? Will we imprison him? That is, what do we want to do? To take people not having money to prison?”
Artak Zakaryan replied that even that question is still open, they do not know what to do to them, but it is not that they should keep the gates open for everyone. As regards the amount of money, he explained: “If it is a case of maliciously escaping, I think even 500,000 is not enough.”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
