YEREVAN, DECEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. Independent Member of Parliament Arman Babajanyan seeks to create a new article in the Criminal Code to combat fake news.

In a statement published on his official Facebook account, the lawmaker said he has already introduced the bill on amending the criminal code into circulation.

Paragraph 1 of the yet-to-be-approved new Article 325,1 will envisage either a two-months remand in custody or two-year imprisonment for “spreading false information, materially motivating another person with the purpose of spreading false information”.

Moreover, those having gained assets by spreading fake information or who sought doing so will risk getting a two-year prison sentence if found guilty.

A noteworthy part of the draft Article is paragraph 2, whereby suspects will be exempt from criminal liability in the event of voluntarily reporting their crimes to authorities no later than within a three-day period and assisting in solving the crime.

MP Babajanyan said his motive behind proposing the amendments is the “current political realities of Armenia, which are manifested with an occurrence considered a global problem known as fake news”.

“Especially after the 2018 velvet revolution the fake and manipulative information has become the integral part of our political, news media life. Fake news has become a tool for defaming political opponents and seeking vengeance against them, a tool which is becoming more and more large-scale. Therefore, this problem requires legislative regulations, which, naturally will not entirely eliminate the impact of fake news, but will at least have a deterring significance for those who use fake information as a political method”, Arman Babajanyan said.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan