A Person Can Unintentionally Infect a Pregnant Woman and Be Held Accountable, Petrosyan

A person can unintentionally infect a pregnant woman and be held accountable, which does not stem from the principle of justice. This was noted today, March 23, during a speech at the National Assembly session by Gevorg Petrosyan, a member of the Prosperous Armenia faction.

“For example, how do we verify if we are dealing with a pregnant woman or a minor? What leads us to conclusively assume that she is a minor? It is essential to base a person's responsibility on their intent. The danger lies in a person’s intent, where one must clearly know whom and what harm they are causing. In this case, it turns out that a person can unintentionally infect a pregnant woman. If a person does not know whether that individual is pregnant or not and infects them, holding them accountable does not align with the principle of justice,” stated Petrosyan.

Addressing the fine imposed for infecting someone with the coronavirus, Petrosyan mentioned, “The 700,000 AMD fine… we should consider the situation of the majority of our population today. No one will deliberately infect another person; hence they should not bear responsibility for it.”

The chairman of the National Assembly’s Legal Affairs Committee, Vladimir Vardanian, also responded to Petrosyan’s remarks, stating that the term 'pregnant' should be understood as 'clearly pregnant.' “Without this proposal, we will not have the opportunity to have clear and effective means to prevent the spread of this infection. We have identified the term 'clearly pregnant woman.' It is a technical solution. Perhaps the term 'pregnant woman' specified in the proposal will be replaced with the term 'clearly pregnant woman.'