Pashinyan Reiterates: Armenian Citizens Are Not 'Material for Fines'

During a question-and-answer session with the government in the National Assembly today, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reiterated that Armenian citizens are not "material for fines."

He noted that the new authorities have stated this many times and have fulfilled their promise. The government leader specifically reminded that before the regime change in 2018, fines were much higher.

"Some reached up to 500,000 drams. But the main point is not that everything ended with paying fines for serious violations. The new government completely abolished the penalties for several types of violations, replacing them with warnings. Moreover, now in 90% of cases, fines are around 29,000 drams. After that, it is quite strange to hear that the new authorities want to impose as many fines as possible. The unwritten logic before was this: break the rules as much as you want, pay your fines, and drive as much as you want. We changed that. Now, if a driver frequently breaks traffic rules, their treatment changes. They are considered a risk to life—both their own and that of those around them. For this reason, they do not have to pay fines one after another. They are simply temporarily deprived of the right to drive," said Pashinyan.