YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 11, NOYAN TAPAN. During the February 11 sitting of the working group which was set up with the aim of developing a bill on amendments and additions to Articles 225 and 300 of the Criminal Code of Armenia, the head of the group, chairman of the RA National Assembly Standing Committee on State and Legal Issues David Harutyunian proposed adding a new article - 301/1 to the Criminal Code. In the new article, actions aimed and not aimed at usurping power will be separated and different punitive measures will be envisaged for these actions. The new article defines forcing the president of Armenia, the National Assembly, the government, the Constitutional Court (by committing violence against them or threatening to commit violence) to take or not to take a power-involving action as a new type of crime which is not aimed at usurping power. D. Harutyunian proposed stipulating clearly in Article 225 on mass disorder what mass disorder is. In the version that the working group is currently discussing, mass disorder is a group action which is accompanied by violence, pogroms, arson, destruction or damage of property, use of fire-arms, explosive substances or devices, and armed resistance to representatives of authorities and poses a threat to public security. The expression "accompanied by kilings" was removed from the article (it will be stipulated in Article 104), and a new punitive measure (arrest of up to 3 months) for participation in mass disorder was added. The matter concerns people who did not take actions described in the article on mass disorder. According to the National Assembly PR Department, the next sitting of the working group will be held at the beginning of next week.

---