The Armenian government has introduced legislative amendments aimed at tightening penalties for evading mandatory military or alternative service and failing to attend military training drills.

On February 27, a draft law proposing amendments to Armenia’s Criminal Code was put up for public discussion. The changes affect Article 461 (evasion of mandatory military or alternative service and mobilization) and Article 462 (evasion of training drills), according to Pastinfo.

Currently, evading military service carries a prison sentence of two to five years. If the offense involves falsifying documents, deception, or feigning illness, the penalty increases to four to eight years. In cases of mobilization or under martial law, the punishment is six to twelve years in prison.

The proposed amendments increase these penalties by three years. Specifically, the bill states:

• "In the first section, replace 'two to five' with 'three to six' years."
• "In the second section, replace 'four to eight' with 'five to ten' years."
• "In the third section, replace 'six to twelve' with 'nine to fifteen' years."

Currently, avoiding training drills results in a maximum of two years of imprisonment. However, the proposed changes would increase both fines and prison terms, setting the new punishment at one to three years in prison.

The bill’s justification states that these changes are intended to provide an adequate legal response to draft dodging and the evasion of training exercises, aiming to reduce such occurrences.

The initiative was developed by Armenia’s Ministry of Justice.