Alexander Pracht
Armenia’s parliament on Wednesday adopted a law eliminating criminal liability for draft evasion for men who skipped mandatory military service, allowing them to either serve instead of facing jail time or to pay a fee of up to $40,000 to avoid conscription altogether or serve a shorter term.
The bill was backed by both the ruling Civil Contract party and opposition lawmakers, with 86 MPs voting in favor and five abstaining.
Under the new legislation, men aged between 27 and 37 who reached the upper conscription age limit of 27 without serving will be able to regularize their status. They may either complete military service instead of criminal prosecution or pay a fee to the state budget to be exempted. The law introduces gradual payment options: higher payments correspond to shorter periods of service, allowing individuals to serve only part of the required term or avoid it completely.
The reform applies primarily to men who have lived abroad to avoid criminal charges for draft evasion. Importantly, the law does not permit men under the age of 27 to pay to avoid conscription. They remain subject to mandatory service under existing rules. Starting in January, the standard draft term was reduced from 24 months to 18 months.
The adopted legislation comes after a separate initiative by a group of ruling party lawmakers last year that would have allowed regular conscripts to reduce their service to as little as one month by paying large sums into the state budget. According to its authors, the funds were intended to finance the salaries of professional servicemen who would replace them.
That proposal faced sharp criticism from activists and the wider public, who argued it would deepen social inequality by effectively enabling wealthy individuals to buy their way out of service. Following public backlash, the bill was shelved indefinitely.
In February 2024, parliament passed a similar law requiring new male citizens aged 27 to 37 to either serve or pay a fee to the budget, even though they acquired Armenian citizenship after surpassing the conscription age. That measure drew criticism from human rights advocates and diaspora figures, who argued that it discourages repatriation by male diaspora Armenians and, by extension, their families, as well as other prospective naturalized citizens.
The bill’s authors countered that the fees collected would enable the government to recruit more contract soldiers.
Before the latest changes, draft evasion was punishable by up to five years in prison in peacetime and up to eight years during wartime. The penalties applied to all male nationals who failed to report for duty after turning 18, including those who moved abroad with their parents as children or were born outside Armenia to Armenian parents and had never visited the country.
As a result, many diaspora Armenians avoided traveling to Armenia out of concern that they could face criminal prosecution and imprisonment upon arrival.
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