A bill to amend the Criminal Code of Armenia in order to criminalize Armenian Genocide denial will be debated on during the current four-day parliamentary session, National Assembly (NA) speaker Alen Simonyan announced at the NA session on Tuesday.

Under the current Criminal Code of Armenia, denial of the Armenian Genocide is criminalized in the country only if it was committed with the intent to incite hatred or violence based on racial or ethnic origin.

The opposition "Armenia" Faction of the NA, however, proposes to toughen the respective penalties in a number of cases.

So, according to the aforesaid bill, denial, mitigation, confirmation, or justification of the Armenian Genocide or similar crimes will be punishable in Armenia by a fine, community service, or up to four years in prison.

If this act was committed in Armenia with the intent to incite hatred, discrimination or violence on the basis of race, nationality or religion, then a term of imprisonment of four to eight years will be imposed.

And if it was committed through the use of mass media, information technology, or official powers, then a more severe penalty will be applied: imprisonment for 10 to 15 years, as well as deprivation of the right to hold certain offices for up to 5 years.