“God willing that this law will never be used”: discussion at the Leading Committee

The bill on “Prevention of family violence, the protection of family violence victims and the restoration of solidarity in the family” has been endorsed by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs and will be submitted to the plenary session of the National Assembly next week.

At today’s session of the commission, before the approval of the draft the main reporter the Deputy Prime Minister Vigen Kocharyan presented the main provisions of the document, the regulatory framework. The MPs also raised concerns, asking questions.

First, Kocharyan introduced that the bill has three goals: prevention of domestic violence, protection of victims’ rights, and restoration of solidarity in the family. The official, presenting the content, said that after receiving an alert on the case of domestic violence, the police officer warns the offender to stop violence and if the violence in the same family continues, according to the Deputy Minister; the police officer makes decision on “urgent intervention”. The official said that such a decision could be made not by any officer of the police, but by a specially trained specialist of the police, who should have the relevant knowledge. The other measure that can be used to prevent domestic violence is a defense decision that only the court accepts, only on the basis of the victim’s application.

Gevorg Petrosyan, a member of the NA Tsarukyan faction, who is the only one to vote against this bill, said that he is against such a law at all and that the amendments made after the public debate are unacceptable. He not only mocked the government’s legislative initiative but made obvious attempts to discredit it.

Full text in Armenian