“Does this change mean that no one can publicly call for the non-existence of the Republic of Armenia as a state and to belittle sovereignty in general and carry out actions aimed at it?”At the session of the RA government, Nikol Pashinyan asked the Minister of Justice Grigor Minasyan a similar question when Minasyan presented the new amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure.
“Yes,” answered Grigor Minasyan, reminding at the same time that the current Criminal Code already establishes criminal liability for calls and actions aimed at violating the territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia, so the new regulation will be the logical continuation of the chain of crimes.”
RA government is proposing a new amendment to the Criminal Code, which will establish responsibility for making calls to renounce sovereignty. While presenting the bill, the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia noted that under the current code, there is responsibility for subverting the constitutional order. At the same time, there is no criminal liability for calls for voluntary renunciation of sovereignty or forceful imposition, even though sovereignty is the state’s leading property.
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“As a result of the adoption of the project, actions aimed at fully or partially limiting the sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia through the use of violence or the threat of violence, as well as public calls for the renunciation of sovereignty, will be considered criminally punishable acts as a renunciation of sovereignty,” Minasyan explained.
The draft proposes to set fines of various sizes up to 3 years of imprisonment for public appeals aimed at renouncing sovereignty and 2-5 years imprisonment for disseminating requests through multiple information sources and mass media. And for committing violent actions to deny authority, proposed to impose 10-15 years of imprisonment.
Lusine MARGARYAN
