ArmInfo.The National Assembly of Armenia made amendments to the law "On Refugees and Asylum" at its meeting on September 11 at the first reading. As the First Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia Artur Hovhannisyan noted in his speech, the presented document is called upon to settle the relations related to granting asylum.
If there is a threat to life for asylum seekers, the state has no right to extradite them to the country that has applied with a relevant request. At the same time, Armenia has agreements with many states of the world on legal cooperation, according to which it is obliged to extradite to the appealing party persons who have committed crimes in their countries. Moreover, a 8-month deadline is set for this task. As a result, a situation arises whereby a person who committed a crime in his/her country knowing the terms of consideration of an application for asylum in Armenia applies to the appropriate structures of the country with the relevant request. After 8 months, the given person, in view of the terms of appeals against decisions, is in fact exempted from criminal prosecution. In this connection, the deadlines for submission of applications for asylum and appeals are proposed up to 6 months. The Deputy Minister stressed that the UN structures submitted 5 proposals on this bill, three of which are acceptable for the Armenian side, and two are under discussion. Prior to the second reading, all these proposals will be included in the submitted document.