YEREVAN. – Under current law, illegal actions against a citizen's right to provide for criminal punishment and imprisonment from six months to one year, but [the ruling] My Step [bloc] wants to toughen the punishment to up to three years. Ani Samsonyan, an MP of the opposition Bright Armenia Party, stated this at Wednesday’s special session of the National Assembly, during the debates on the package of bills on additions and amendments to the Criminal Code and related laws.

According to her, as a rule, the toughening of liability does not lead to a reduction in the number of crimes or violations. "We [Armenia] may have problems with international conventions," she added in particular.

Also, the opposition lawmaker noted that this initiative of My Step, in fact, deprives the opposition of the means to run in elections. "It is another thing for the power, which has the chance to use executive and administrative levers," said Samsonyan.

To note, the essence of the aforesaid package of bills is the imposing of criminal liability for obstructing the election campaign. As many analysts have already stated, the authorities hastily prepared a package of bills after the failure of acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's visit to Syunik Province, the residents of which drove him out of their communities, accusing him of treason.