Punishments for drug trafficking to be tightened in Armenia

ArmInfo.  Penalties for drug trafficking will be tightened in Armenia. At an extraordinary session on May 11, the RA National Assembly Committee on State and Legal  Affairs approved the amendments to the Criminal Code submitted for  second reading by Hayk Sargsyan, a member of parliament from the  ruling Civil Contract faction.

According to the member of parliament, after consultations with the  RA government, a decision was made to further tighten the proposed  amendments, which had previously been adopted by the parliament in  the first reading. Thus, for the production, manufacture, processing,  acquisition, storage, transportation, shipment, distribution,  advertising, and sale of narcotics for the purpose of sale, if the  crime is committed using information technology, it is proposed to  increase the punishment from the current 3-6 years to 5-10 years of  imprisonment. Furthermore, if the same crime is committed with the  participation of a minor or against a minor, it is proposed to  establish a more severe punishment - from 8 to 15 years of  imprisonment.  Sargsyan also proposed a similarly harsher punishment  for cases of crimes committed against a helpless person.

Penalties for cultivating narcotics for personal use will also be  increased. Specifically, instead of a fine of 10 times the average  salary, the penalty will be 20 times the average salary or  imprisonment for 2 years instead of the current 1 year.

The deputy noted that the number of drug-related crimes detected by  law enforcement agencies has increased severalfold. According to him,  two conditions are necessary to prevent such crimes: inevitability  and severity of punishment.