MP justifies involvement of army in emergency situations by lack of resources

PanARMENIAN.Net - MP of opposition Dashnaktsutyun parliamentary group Lilit Galstyan criticized statement of Davit Harutyunyan, chairman of National Assembly’s standing committee on state and legal affairs who justified involvement of army in emergency situations by lack of resources.

Galstyan said: “Justifying violation of the Constitution by lack of resources is unacceptable.”

For his part Harutyunyan declared that the bill and involvement of army do not contradict the Constitution. He said he meant there are other options, more efficient than using army in emergency situations, for instance, creation of special forces. “However, Armenia cannot afford them due to lack of resources,” he noted.

On February 9, the National Assembly of Armenia adopted the draft law “On legal regime of the emergency situation” in the first reading. The bill stipulates that emergency situation can be declared in Armenia only provided there are circumstances which directly threaten the constitutional regime, in particular, coup d'etat attempts.

The document also defines the conditions under which armed forces can be engaged during emergency situations. In particular, after an emergency situation is declared, the army can be involved only if the police troops and the National Security Service forces have failed in their tasks.

There were attempts to pass the law “On legal regime of emergency situation” twice in 2007 which have failed due to controversial discussions.

Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan suggested that the National Assembly speaker Samvel Nikoyan should return the bill to the government for amendment.