National Assembly Approves Bill by Sipan Pashinyan and Armen Khachatryan

The National Assembly of Armenia has approved in the first reading the bill on amendments to the Law on Operational-Intelligence Activities. The bill was authored by members of the National Assembly from the 'My Step' faction, Armen Khachatryan and Sipan Pashinyan.

According to the current law, the execution of operational-intelligence measures such as 'monitoring telephone conversations' is ensured solely by the Main Operational-Tactical Department operating within the National Security Service of Armenia, based on the mediators of the bodies authorized to conduct such measures, following the procedures established by the law.

A member of the National Assembly stated that the bill proposes the independent execution of operational-intelligence measures by the police using its own operational-technical infrastructure, for which a program of measures should be presented for development. He also noted that this would save time spent on applying to the NSS for intermediaries and obtaining technical support and resolving organizational issues.

The government has provided a negative conclusion on the bill. The Deputy Minister of Justice, Serbouhi Galoyan, mentioned that the approval of the bill would involve significant financial expenditures to provide the police with the technical means necessary for the execution of operational-intelligence measures by the NSS. She also informed that work is currently underway to revise the draft new criminal procedure code, the adoption of which will also entail systemic changes in the criminal procedural field. The Law on Operational-Intelligence Activities will also be revised.

The bill received a positive conclusion at the meeting of the Standing Committee on Defense and Security of the National Assembly. It was voted in favor by 80 members and opposed by 19.