Authorities were against buying one's way out of military service, now they support doing it even more: Edmon Marukyan

Authorities were against buying one's way out of military service, now they support doing it even more: this was stated by Edmon Marukyan, the leader of the "Bright Armenia" faction in the National Assembly on his Facebook page.

“Dear citizens, as we learn from the official website of the National Assembly, the government has introduced a package of draft laws aimed at amending and supplementing the Law on "Military Service and the Status of Military Personnel," changes to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, and amendments to the Law on "Public Service." Specifically, these drafts propose:

• To extend the mandatory military service period by one month for each call-up missed (evaded) by conscripts and reserve officers;
• To tighten the penalties for evading mandatory military or alternative service, resulting in medium-level crimes being reclassified as serious crimes, thus doubling the statute of limitations from 5 years to 10 years;
• To exempt persons under the age of 27 (35 for reserve officers) from criminal liability if they have completed their mandatory military service, while those over 27 (35 for reserve officers) must pay the equivalent of two years of salary and allowances for a contract serviceman in order to be exempted.

Under the current legal framework, citizens conscripted into military service serve a general term applicable to everyone. However, the draft proposes tightening this regulation, whereby the mandatory military service period can be extended by up to 1.5 years (for those aged 18-27 who missed the call-up period could end up serving up to 18 months more).

It is worth recalling that in October 2017, a proposal was made by former Minister of Defense Vigen Sargsyan, which sought to increase the amount paid to cease criminal prosecution from 1.8 million AMD to approximately 9 million AMD. The "Yelk" faction opposed this proposal. After persistent efforts against the proposal, the amount was reduced to 3.6 million AMD instead of 9 million AMD.

Last year, when the "Bright Armenia" faction suggested once again to leave the 3.6 million AMD unchanged while extending the law's operational term to allow payment and return to the homeland, the ruling majority rejected the bill, declaring that individuals should no longer be allowed to evade military service by making a payment.

We later proposed an alternative, suggesting an amnesty for those who committed offenses as outlined in parts 1 and 2 of article 327 of the RA Criminal Code, while providing a clear message that this type of amnesty would be declared only once. This amnesty proposal was also rejected by the government.

With the introduction of this new draft, it becomes apparent that the ruling team is backtracking on its declared principles, as it clearly indicates that the issue was solely about the amount of money. With a higher proposed payment in the new draft, the government is willing to effectively extend the provisions of the previous law, providing identical regulations in the RA Criminal Code.

Meanwhile, returnees who were unable to pay the 3.6 million AMD will even less likely be able to afford the increased amount, estimated to be approximately 5 million AMD or 10,000 USD. Furthermore, by doubling the statute of limitations, the demographic problem will deepen, as this change will mean individuals now have to wait 10 years instead of 5 to return to their homeland if they lack the means to pay the required amount. The likelihood of reconsideration about returning grows with the longer duration.

Thus, by rejecting the proposal for amnesty introduced by the "Bright Armenia" faction, the ruling team is presenting a variant that aims not at solving the problem but rather exacerbating the situation even further.