Pashinyan's Decision: State Protection Will Be Provided to Former Presidents and Prime Ministers

According to the newspaper "Zhoghovurd", "From now on, state protection for former presidents and prime ministers of the Republic of Armenia can only be provided by a decision of the Prime Minister. This means that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan continues to expand his powers, despite having been against such extensive powers for the country's leader when he was an opposition deputy.

It is known that on December 9, the National Assembly of Armenia will hold an extraordinary session, during which the agenda includes a package of draft laws on amendments and additions to the law on the security of persons subject to special state protection.

"Zhoghovurd" has learned that these drafts propose to limit the duration of personal state protection granted to former presidents and prime ministers of the Republic. Specifically, it is suggested to limit the duration of personal state protection granted within the territory of the Republic of Armenia to former presidents and prime ministers to 7 and 10 years, respectively.

Additionally, the drafts propose regulations under which former presidents and prime ministers will receive state protection while being abroad for a period not exceeding 20 days within one year during visits to foreign countries.

This draft will establish the State Protection Service, which will have the status of an agency subordinate to the Prime Minister. Furthermore, the head of the State Protection Service will be appointed and dismissed by the President of the Republic upon the Prime Minister's proposal, while the first deputy will be appointed by the Prime Minister based on the nomination of the Director of the National Security Service. Thus, the Prime Minister will gain new powers in this regard as well, as he will take the Protection Service from the NSS under his jurisdiction."
Details are available in the newspaper's current issue.