The bill denounced by opposition lawmakers involves amendments to the Criminal Code stipulating that suspects could avoid prosecution in “exceptional” cases where they cooperate with investigators, admit committing “serious or particularly serious crimes” and agree to compensate for the damage caused by them.
Presenting the bill to the National Assembly, Justice Minister Grigor Minasian said it is primarily aimed at reducing the workload of law-enforcement agencies as well as courts. He claimed that they are too busy at the moment.
Deputies from the main opposition Hayastan alliance rejected the official rationale for the proposed extrajudicial clemency which they believe will effective give judicial powers to Armenia’s security apparatus.
“This clearly contradicts the fundamental principles of criminal justice,” one of them, Artsvik Minasian (no relation to the justice minister), said.
He argued that the bill is also opposed by Armenia’s Interior Ministry, National Security Service and Supreme Judicial Council.
The bill is understood to have been originally drafted by another law-enforcement body, the Investigative Committee. It is headed by Argishti Kyaramian, one of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s trusted lieutenants.
Armenia’s national bar association, the Chamber of Advocates, voiced strong objections to the proposed amendments late last month. It said that giving prosecutors and investigators “uncontrolled” discretionary powers to pardon felons “could not only create an atmosphere of impunity but also carry corruption risks.” It warned of “very serious damage” to the fight against crime.
The law-enforcement authorities have reported considerable annual increases in Armenia’s crime rate since the 2018 “velvet revolution” that brought Pashinian to power. Critics claim that the country is not as safe as it used to be because its current government is more incompetent and softer on crime than the previous ones.
The authorities registered a total of 37,612 criminal offenses in 2022, up by 24 percent from 2021. According to them, “serious and particularly serious crimes” accounted for about 16 percent of the total. This included 58 premeditated murders.