Armenian government considers draft law on criminalizing of   Armenian Genocide denial as "inexpedient"

ArmInfo. On May 22, the Armenian government rejected the draft law proposed by the opposition  "Armenia" faction in the National Assembly on criminalizing the  denial of the Armenian Genocide.

On April 22, Secretary of the  "Armenia" faction Artsvik Minasyan  announced in parliament that on the eve of the 110th anniversary of  the Armenian Genocide, the opposition faction had introduced a draft  law proposing criminal liability for denying the Armenian Genocide  The issue sparked heated discussions and debates in parliament.  Previously, the ruling "Civil Contract" had also opposed it,  referring to the current article in the criminal code on  denial of  any genocide and accusing the opposition of manipulation.

Today, the executive body restated this viewpoint, noting that  Article 136 of the new Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia  already covers  liability for publicly denying, justifying, or  minimizing the severity of genocide or crimes against humanity, as  well as for their propaganda, a matter not covered in the proposed  draft.

Furthermore, the RA Ministry of Justice noted that the concept of  an  "internationally unrecognized genocide" mentioned in the Draft is  problematic in terms of the constitutional principle of legal  certainty, as in this case it is unclear which international body is  being referred to and which genocide has been recognized by that  body.  "Based on the above, we believe that the proposed amendments  to the Draft are inexpedient," they concluded.