YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Parliamentary debates of a bill on combating the mafia subculture were interrupted as lawmakers clashed in a chaotic shouting episode.

It all began after opposition MP from Prosperous Armenia Gevorg Petrosyan sarcastically told lawmakers in his speech to “also combat a three-letter word” term associated with the subculture, presumably referring to a criminal jargon insult.

Independent lawmaker Arman Babajanyan responded to Petrosyan’s speech and called on Prosperous Armenia faction to apologize, and asked Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan to take disciplinary actions.

After Babajanyan finished his speech and was returning to take his seat, the situation turned into a heated altercation between himself and MPs from Prosperous Armenia.

Speaker Mirzoyan removed 4 lawmakers from Prosperous Armenia, including Petrosyan, from today’s session as a disciplinary measure.

The bill seeks to criminalize any association with criminal subculture and the so-called thief-in-law phenomenon.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan