Penalties for bringing prohibited items into penal institutions to be  tightened in Armenia

ArmInfo.  Penalties for bringing prohibited items into penal institutions will be tightened in  Armenia.

The National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia will discuss  amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses submitted by the RA  government in the second reading at an extraordinary session on July  3.

As Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Gevorg  Kocharyan noted in his speech, the application of the current  regulations shows that they do not fully prevent such incidents.  According to the current version of the code, the transfer or attempt  to transfer prohibited items to a prison or pretrial detention center  is punishable by a fine of 100,000 to 300,000 drams.

According to the amendments, this fine is proposed for prison  visitors found in possession of prohibited items. As for the actual  transfer of these items, the fine will increase to 200,000-500,000  drams.

The amendments are being proposed in response to numerous schemes  involving the smuggling of phones and other prohibited items to  prisoners. Taking advantage of the fact that current laws only  penalize the transfer, not the carrying, of such items, visitors  leave them, for example, in the visiting room, which de jure does not  provide grounds for punishment. Furthermore, after paying the fine,  the prohibited items remain in the possession of visitors, who may  attempt to transfer them again.