Citizens Must Pay Fines Before Appeals: New Bill Under Development, Says Nairi Sargsyan

Amendments have been proposed to the Administrative Procedure Code, seeking to invalidate Article 83. This means that if any state body that conducts administrative actions issues an act against Armenian citizens or businesses, and they choose to appeal it, the court will decide whether the citizen must pay the fine or not. This was stated by Nairi Sargsyan, the head of the 'I Am Armenia' initiative.

'So what happens is, the individual must pay the act and wait 4-5 years until the appeal process goes through all court instances. Now if individuals smoothly agree to have their income tax calculations done annually, the tax authority, with the next bill, will have the right to conduct inspections on every citizen of the Republic of Armenia. In such cases, an act might be created against the citizen for, say, 3 million drams. Under current legislation, the citizen can choose not to pay that and appeal, and there is a more than 90% chance that the citizen will win in court and will not have to make that payment. However, with the changes in the aforementioned bill, individuals will have no alternative, as appealing an act in court will no longer adequately protect their rights, leading to the establishment of a legal dictatorship. They would have to sell their home to make the payment and then spend another 4-5 years paying lawyers to defend their rights before filing a claim against the state, saying that the 3 million drams you took should be returned. By that time, Nikol Pashinyan will no longer be in power, nor will today’s Minister of Justice or Minister of Economy, because they will soon disappear together. Where will they return that 3 million from? The state budget, not personally accountable. On one hand, they induce people to taxation, while on the other, they limit all possibilities for restoring their legitimate rights,' he said.