The Government of Armenia suggests tightening punishment for obstruction of the professional activities of journalists. This is what Deputy Minister of Justice of Armenia Armen Hovhannisyan said during today’s discussion on the bill on making amendments to the Criminal Code in parliament.

According to Hovhannisyan, the bill envisages criminal liability for obstructing the professional activities of journalists, as well as liability for the same act committed by an official. In addition, criminal liability is also envisaged for the acts when such actions are accompanied by violence or threats posed to life and health of a particular journalist or his or her family member. “These amendments will ensure legal certainty and inevitability of punishment, and they will protect and ensure the right of a journalist to gather and receive information,” the deputy minister clarified.

Currently, according to Article 164 of the Criminal Code (obstructing the legal professional activities of a journalist), obstructing the legal professional activities of a journalist, or forcing the journalist to disseminate information or not to disseminate information, is punished with a fine in the amount of 50-150 minimal salaries, or correctional labor for not more than 1 year. At the same time, the same actions committed by an official abusing one’s official position, are punished with correctional labor for not more than 2 years, or imprisonment for the term of not more than 3 years, by deprivation of the right to hold certain posts or practice certain activities for not more than 3 years, or without that.