Parliament of Armenia gives legal interpretation of the term "mass disorders"

On March 18, the National Assembly of Armenia adopted, by overwhelming majority of votes, in the second reading, amendments to Articles of the Criminal Code No. 225 "On Mass Disorders" and No. 300 "On Power Usurpation".

According to David Arutyunyan, key speaker and chairman of the permanent parliamentary commission for state and legal matters, particular definitions were added to Articles 225 and 300. In particular, "mass disorders are group actions accompanied by violence, pogroms, arsons, destruction and damage of property, application of explosives, or the actions embodied into armed resistance to a power representative."

Artsvik Minasyan, MP from the "ARFD" faction of the National Assembly, has noted that the amendments have brought more specifics into Articles 250 and 300, which earlier gave room for broad interpretation.

In his turn, Tigran Torosyan, an independent MP and former speaker of the parliament, has mentioned that the present formulations will not contribute to fulfilment of obligations taken before the Council of Europe. He also expressed his concern of one of the points of Article 225, according to which if the person has committed no offence, but was just present in the place of "mass disorders" and failed to "immediately" leave it, he or she can also be brought to criminal liability.