Amnesty to be applied to men who avoided Armenia compulsory military service and reached age of 27

At Thursday’s Cabinet meeting, the government of Armenia approved the bill on granting amnesty to men who have avoided term military or alternative service, military training, or conscription in the country.

Minister of Justice Rustam Badasyan said that this amnesty shall apply until September 26, 2020 inclusive and to those men who have avoided military service and are enlisted in the rank-and-file service and have reached the age of 27, who are enlisted in reserve military or alternative service and have reached the age of 35, as well as to men who have avoided military training and/or conscription and are suspected, accused or convicted of a crime under Article 327 (1) of the Criminal Code.

PM Nikol Pashinyan, in turn, noted that the idea of adopting such a law has been discussed for a long time, it has always been a controversial topic, but nevertheless such a decision was made. “It seems that now, after the [recent Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)] war, it is the most inopportune period to apply amnesty to those who have avoided term military service. But we have made this decision also in the sense that the army, the armed forces [of Armenia] are now entering a phase of profound and substantive reforms. This is an opportunity for us to fix a point and move forward. ”

Pashinyan added that this was a political decision.

Source: News.am