State of Emergency Extended One Last Time; Several Restrictions to Be Reexamined

The newspaper "Zhoghovurd" reports that the state of emergency declared in Armenia on March 16 will be extended for another month, starting from August 12, though several restrictions will be reexamined, such as the bans on gatherings and public events. This was announced by the Chief of the State Emergency Services, Tigran Avinyan, during a briefing following the session of the commandant's office.

"Zhoghovurd" had previously mentioned in its August 5 edition that despite the Ministry of Justice having almost completed discussions with the government and preparing a draft that would allow for operations to be organized under coronavirus conditions without extending the state of emergency, Chief of the State Emergency Services Tigran Avinyan is inclined to extend it once again.

It was made clear yesterday that the state of emergency will be extended for one more month but this will be the last time. Thus, the National Assembly is expected to hold a special session on August 12 to discuss this draft.

It should be noted that this will be the fifth extension of the declared state of emergency in Armenia. The reason for the further extension is that, according to "Zhoghovurd"’s sources, the authorities were still hesitating about how to proceed—whether to extend the state of emergency by another month and adopt new legislation in the upcoming session starting September or to end the state of emergency and proceed in another manner. Discussing options led to the first route.

As Tigran Avinyan noted in his address, several restrictions would be reconsidered, including the bans on public gatherings and events. This is the very restriction that opposition groups have constantly protested against, and which has also led to the detention of individuals during gatherings by police forces.

Additionally, according to our sources, legislative changes are already prepared that would allow for the state of emergency to no longer be extended, and the authorities will not wait for the regular session of the National Assembly in September but will hold an extraordinary session by the end of August to discuss it.

For more details, refer to today’s edition of the newspaper.