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The new Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia will enter into force from July 1, 2022. From that moment, the Criminal Code adopted on April 18, 2003 is recognized invalid.

The RA Deputy Minister of Justice Arpine Sargsyan noted that before the RA Criminal Code enters into force, other laws and secondary regulatory legal acts operating in the RA territory are subject to compliance with the new RA Criminal Code.

It has been noted that from the moment the Code enters into force, those persons who have served or serves a sentence for an act the criminality of which has been eliminated by the RA Criminal Code, as well as those persons, exempted from serving a sentence, who have been convicted for an act the criminality of which has been completely eliminated by the RA Criminal Code should be considered non-convicted.

It is proposed to exempt from basic and additional punishments those persons, convicted according to the verdicts came into force until July 1, 2022 by the RA Criminal Code adopted on April 18, 2003, whose actions are not considered crimes by the RA Criminal Code.

It is also suggested to exempt from the form of punishment – property confiscation, those persons against whom the verdict came into force by July 1, 2022, however, the form of punishment – property confiscation, was not fulfilled, or the verdict came into force as of July 1, 2022 or after it.

According to the Deputy Minister of Justice, the proposed regulations will also allow unloading the courts.

In his co-report, Vladimir Vardanyan informed that they agreed with the key rapporteur to touch upon a number of issues after the first reading. The solution of which will give the opportunity to reform the draft, and the amended version of the draft will be presented.

The members of the Committee endorsed the bill.

It should be noted that the draft was debated at the sitting of the NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs on April 21.