Several Prosperous Armenia Party MPs want to make life imprisonment the punishment for those convicted of high treason.

MPS Naira Zohrabyan, Vahe Enfiajyan and Iveta Tonoyan propose amending Armenia’s Criminal Code that currently makes high treason punishable by 10 to 15 years in prison.

The current law on espionage stipulates 8-15 years imprisonment. This would be increased to 15-20 years if the draft bill is approved.

In England, high treason is punishable by a sentence ranging from five years to life. In Israel, the punishment is life imprisonment or the death penalty. In France, establishing or maintaining relations with representatives of other countries for the goal of inciting hostilities or acts of aggression against France is punishable by up to thirty years in prison.

According to the authors of the bill, as a result of the passage of the amendments, in case of a number of crimes endangering Armenia's security and sovereignty, more severe, proportionate punishments will be envisaged, creating the necessary preconditions to prevent such grave damage and raise national vigilance.