A working group to develop the concept and the Draft of the New Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia has been established by the decree of the RA Justice Minister Hrayr Tovmasyan. The group will elaborate and submit to the Minister of Justice of the RA the New Concept of Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia by 10 April 2014 and the Draft Criminal Code will be submitted by 1 July 2015.
According to the information from the RA Ministry of Justice, the working group will participate in public hearings and expert discussions on the new concept and the Draft Criminal Code of the RA, study the suggestions and recommendations of the interested bodies and organizations (including the international organizations) on the new concept and the Draft Criminal Code of the RA, and consider the appropriateness to include the submitted recommendations and suggestions in the mentioned instrument.
After sending the draft to the National Assembly, the working group will participate in the discussions organized in the NA of the RA, as well as introduce the provisions of the draft and reasoning of the latter. Where necessary the working group will provide expert analyses on the new concept and the Draft Criminal Code of the RA, to the interested bodies and corresponding international organizations. Paragraph 4.1 of the instruction NK-96-A of the RA President dated 30 June, 2012 on the “Approval of the 2012-2016 Strategicrogramme for Legal and Judicial Reforms in the Republic of Armenia and the List of measures deriving from the Programme” was the grounds for the decree of the RA Justice Minister.
Head of the Criminal Law Chair of the Law Department of Yerevan State University, Doctor of Law Ara Gabuzyan will be the head of the working group established to develop the concept and the Draft of the New Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia and to prepare the legislative package. Associate Professors of the Criminal Law Chair of the Law Department of Yerevan State University, PhDs of Law Sergey Arakelyan, Tigran Simonyan, Anna Margaryan, as well as Anna Vardapetyan, Assistant Professor of the mentioned Chair, PhD of Law, Advisor to the Chairman of the Court of Cassation of the RA are in the working group as well.
