Armenian Prosecutor General`s Office reminded political forces and  citizens of criminal responsibility for electoral bribes

ArmInfo.The Prosecutor General's Office of Armenia made a statement in connection with the information circulated in the media about the giving of electoral  bribes from various political forces.

Thus, the General Prosecutor's Office's report, received by ArmInfo,  in particular, states: "Recently, through the media and social  networks, information about giving hidden electoral bribes, material  resources under the pretext of hiring political personnel from party  forces of the blocs or candidates participating in the upcoming  elections. We consider it necessary to clarify that, according to the  amendments made to the Criminal Code of September 7, 2018, it is  criminalized not only o for giving a bribe and taking it in favor of  voting or not voting for a particular candidate, or refusing to  participate in elections, or voting more than once, or voting for  another person, but also violating the ban on charity throughout the  election period, as well as the provision of goods to the voters by  any means free of charge or on a privileged basis, the provision of  any services ",the General Prosecutor's Office of Armenia was  reminded.

The ministry stressed that in the Criminal Code of this kind  violations are qualified as serious crimes and imply criminal  liability under Art. Part 5 of Art. 154.2 of the RA Criminal Code,  and impose a sentence of imprisonment from 2.5 to 6 years.

The Prosecutor General's Office assured that, within the framework of  their authority, they are committed to taking "any" steps to verify  any kind of information about bribing voters, if necessary, to give  instructions on conducting large-scale operational and intelligence  activities, through the implementation of the relevant judicial  procedure in order to fully disclose the electoral the crime. "It  should be noted that recent legislative amendments have provided the  structures authorized to carry out operational intelligence  activities with the necessary legal capabilities, through large-scale  measures to find out the real circumstances of any hidden case. These  capabilities will be fully implemented in practice in accordance with  the law", the Prosecutor General's Office said and urged the  political forces participating in the extraordinary parliamentary  elections to refrain from such attempts to influence electoral  processes, gain competitive advantage. The Ministry also called on  citizens who are witnesses of such actions or who have reliable  information to contact the Prosecutor General's Office or other law  enforcement agencies.