YEREVAN. – Under current regulations in Armenia, a person must confirm his being alive by personally visiting a bank and updating his pension plastic card at least once a year.

Justice Minister Artak Zeynalyan stated about the aforementioned at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the government. He noted this during the debates on the bill with respect to making amendments to the law on state pensions.

As reported earlier, in particular, this bill proposes to revoke the provisions on pensioners who receive non-cash retirement pensions to go to a bank at least once a year and sign a statement about their being in Armenia.

Zeynalyan said that the increase in budget expenditures assumes that these people have the right to receive these pensions, but due to being abroad, they cannot get it because they are unable come to a bank in Armenia once a year and confirm that they are still alive.

In his words, however, there is also a Constitution Court position that there are state agencies that are authorized to confirm that the given pensioner is still living. In addition, Zeynalyan proposed that, for example, hospital directors and prison wardens in Armenia also should exercise that authority.

But this option was not to the liking of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

“How will a bedridden person go to the consulate? Or [how] will the consul go 500km of distance for each and every bedridden pensioner to assure his being alive?” he asked. “Do [this] in such a way that this matter can be settled—for example, via Skype.”