Refusal of medical examination was criminalized. the law will also apply to the criminal proceedings of those discharged from the army

In the Criminal Code, a new criminal offense was provided, by which those persons who have the status of a witness, arrestee or accused in the proceedings of a serious or particularly serious crime and refuse or avoid to submit a sample for examination or undergo examination will be criminally liable.

This legislative initiative initially referred only to the criminal proceedings of persons released from the army due to health reasons. However, the Government, represented by Deputy Minister of Justice Gevorg Kocharyan, proposed to extend this amendment to the Criminal Code not only to the criminal proceedings of those exempted from military service, but also to all criminal cases in general, setting lighter punishments.

According to that, a fine of 1.5 million drams to 2 years of imprisonment is imposed on the persons exempted from conscription due to health problems, who will avoid undergoing a second medical examination within the framework of criminal proceedings.

The author of the bill, MP Vahagn Aleksanyan of the “Civil Agreement” faction, noted that this regulation will allow law enforcement officers to identify persons who evaded the army with forgeries.

“They start a case, they say: let’s go through an examination, let’s see if you have the disease, go through an MRI. The citizen who goes through the procedure says that he does not pass, and at the moment the law enforcement system does not have any tools to force him to go and pass the examination. He says: I won’t go and that’s it. This is an unnatural, abnormal situation, which this project aims to overcome,” said the KP deputy.