VIDEO: People Have Fled the Army; This Issue Needs a Solution, Vahagn Aleksanyan

Armenia's National Assembly member from the "Civil Contract" faction, Vahagn Aleksanyan, addressed the discussions on the second reading of the package of draft laws amending the "Military Service and the Status of Military Personnel" law and a supplement to the Criminal Code. In response to accusations from opposition lawmakers at the NA podium that everything boils down to the idea that "if you have money, you get exempted; if you don't, you serve," he suggested clarifying the matter.

"We are talking about people who have illegally avoided conscription, have not served in the army, have violated the law, and have fled the draft. That is what this is about. It is the same as now when someone commits a criminal offense, one pays a fine for the same act while another is imprisoned. Those same regulations, allowing for fines in exchange for something, exist in all our legal codes. What is new about this, what is new at all in this world?" said Aleksanyan.

According to him, the previous regulations had the following situation: if, for instance, a person renounced Armenian citizenship before registering, they could become a citizen of another country and then, after turning 27, return and obtain Armenian citizenship. "Now the latest regulation is about preventing such manipulations. Should this issue be addressed in some way? In my opinion, it should, but I think we should have discussions later. In my opinion, we need to set a filter that at least five years of residence in Armenia is required, so this approach is very fair," concluded the parliamentarian.