Armenian opposition leader says fines used as budget revenue

Armenian opposition leader Edmon Marukyan has accused the government of relying on fines as a planned source of income, saying citizens are being penalised for minor infractions and stripped of property without adequate legal protection.

Marukyan, the Bright Armenia Party’s candidate for prime minister, told supporters outside the Compulsory Enforcement Service in Yerevan on Tuesday that “every year our people pay billions of drams in fines. The fine has already become a budgeted revenue source.”

He cited cases in which drivers were stopped by police over unpaid fines as small as 5,000 drams, leading to restrictions on their vehicles and frozen bank accounts. “People are fined, their property is seized and the state fails to protect them,” he said.

Marukyan argued that the system reflects a wider failure of justice in Armenia, where “the person continues to remain material for fines” rather than being treated as the central value of the state.

He urged voters to act in the upcoming election, saying June 7 offered “the opportunity to stop this nightmare and change everything.”