15:47, 7 September, 2020

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. A bill on setting stricter liability for insult and defamation has passed a parliamentary committee on Monday.

Vice Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan (My Step bloc) is proposing with the bill to amend the civil code and define higher penalties for insults and defamation.

“In times when the internet enables to register within minutes pages and websites which present themselves as news websites but are actually spreading defamation and fake news, I believe that we will be able to maximally prevent, reduce the fake news and defamation with these amendments,” he said.

Simonyan said he proposes to increase the envisaged penalty for insult up to 5 million drams, and the penalty for defamation up to 10 million drams.

Reporting by Norayr Shoghikyan; Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan