Severer punishment for theft of car spare parts to take effect in  Armenia 

ArmInfo. In Armenia, the punishment for theft of auto parts, including from cars, will be toughened. The draft of the corresponding amendments to the Criminal Code was discussed and approved at the meeting of the RA National Assembly Committee on State and Legal Affairs on May 20 in the second  and final reading.

According to the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the RA Armen  Mkrtchyan, no comments or proposals on the submitted draft law were  received from either the deputies or the RA government by the second  reading. According to the current legal norms, for the theft of  parts, devices or equipment of vehicles (if they do not contain the  characteristics qualified in part by Article 254 of the Criminal  Code), a person is punished by a fine of up to twenty maximum  permissible wages, or community service for a period of eighty to one  hundred and fifty hours, or restriction of liberty for up to two  years, or short-term imprisonment for up to two months, or  imprisonment for up to two years. Moreover, in such cases, the  courts, often taking into account the minor gravity of the crime,  rarely apply a preventive measure in the form of detention, and the  punishments are assigned accordingly. There are cases when a person  who has committed a crime, having the status of an accused and being  at large, continues to conduct illegal activities and commit thefts  from vehicles.

Therefore, in order to increase the effectiveness of the fight  against these crimes, it is proposed to amend the Criminal Code. The  draft law provides for classifying the theft of parts, devices or  equipment of a vehicle (committed outside the vehicle) as a crime of  medium gravity.

After the adoption of the draft law, a person who has committed this  crime will be punished by a fine of 20 to 50 thousand drams, or  community service for a period of one hundred and fifty to two  hundred and seventy hours, or restriction of freedom for a period of  one year to three years, or short-term arrest for a period of one  month to two months, or imprisonment for a period of two to five  years.

At the same time, if the draft law is adopted, broader opportunities  will be created in judicial practice for the use of a preventive  measure in the form of detention in order to prevent the commission  of new crimes during the investigation of this type of crime.

Mkrtchyan reported that over the past five years, the volume of  thefts in the total volume of crimes committed in the country has  decreased from 35%-37% to 15.9%. However, the number of thefts of  parts from cars has remained virtually unchanged. The Deputy Minister  reported that vehicle owners often do not file reports of theft,  which leads to the relative nature of the statistics. There have also  been cases where the victim came to an agreement with the person who  committed the theft upon returning the car numbers or individual  parts for a "reward". 

According to the regulations for the first 4 months of 2025, the  number of guilty verdicts against thieves amounted to only 6.9% of  the total number of crimes committed. Basically, the courts apply  such a preventive measure as a ban on leaving the country to  offenders. The use of another form of restraint in the form of arrest  is practically non-existent.