Up to 3 Years of Imprisonment for Animal Cruelty Proposed by the Prosperous Armenia Party

The Prosperous Armenia faction has proposed establishing imprisonment in addition to fines for animal cruelty. "Under the current 'Administrative Offenses' law of Armenia, only fines are foreseen for citizens amounting to 30 to 50 times the minimum wage, and for officials up to 100 times, which is insufficient to deter potential and current sadists. As a journalist, I have examined whether these ridiculous fines prevent potential or actual sadists," said Naira Zohrabyan, a member of the National Assembly from the Prosperous Armenia faction, during the session of the Permanent Commission for Legal Affairs.

She noted that the videos increasingly emerging on social networks depicting cruel treatment of animals are unacceptable. Therefore, the Prosperous Armenia Party has proposed an addition to the Criminal Code of Armenia, Article 258.2, stipulating that for cruel treatment of animals coupled with hooligan manifestations leading to their destruction or mutilation, a fine of 100 to 300 times the minimum wage or imprisonment from 1 to 3 months or up to 1 year may be imposed.

Zohrabyan stated that the government has suggested tightening the penalty further. Under the government's proposal, cruelty to animals and their mutilation would be punishable, as well as torturing animals. "According to the government’s proposal, a penalty is established for the same acts if committed in the presence of minors by a group of individuals or an organized group, including through public display and online. In this case, such treatment of animals would be punishable by a fine of 300 to 500 times the minimum wage or imprisonment for 1 to 3 years," she added.

Addressing previous comments from My Step lawmakers regarding the project's shortcomings and the unclear definition of the crime, Zohrabyan mentioned that the definition of a crime must be based on the concept of ‘crime’ defined in Article 18 of the Criminal Code of Armenia. Responding to colleagues' previous suggestions to set broad frameworks for animal protection in the bill, Zohrabyan advised them to refer to the ‘Veterinary Law’, which includes all provisions that were cited as lacking in their assessment of the proposed draft. "Utilize the ‘Veterinary Law’ because what you are now attempting to introduce as changes, stating that our proposed draft is incomplete, should already be included as stipulated in the Veterinary Law," she urged, emphasizing not to politicize the issue and to provide a positive conclusion on criminalizing cruel treatment, destruction, and torture of animals.