Armenian opposition rejects meeting proposal of PM’s wife Hakobyan

The heads of Armenia’s opposition parliamentary factions have rejected a proposal by Anna Hakobyan, wife of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, to meet and discuss a draft law aimed at combating domestic violence.

Strong Armenia leader Narek Karapetyan told journalists that the faction has no desire to accept this proposal, Caliber.Az reports, citing Armenian media.

Meanwhile, Anna Grigoryan, head of the Armenia faction, said she was declining the proposal but would separately comment on the issue.

Earlier, Hakobyan called for strengthening the institution of a family free from physical, psychological and all other forms of violence in Armenia.

To this end, she proposed defining domestic violence as a separate criminal offence in the Criminal Code and tightening penalties for it.

In her view, the bill should ideally be adopted unanimously, which is why Hakobyan proposed holding discussions with the opposition factions.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov