Epress.am News from Armenia
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has communicated on September 1 the case of “Vachagan Farmanyan and Others against Armenia” based on applications submitted by the relatives of nine persons who died during or as a result of the post-presidential election clashes of 1-2 March, 2008.
As noted in the ECHR's official statement, the applicants complain under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights that the death of their relatives resulted from use of force which was not “absolutely necessary,” and under Article 13 of the Convention that the Armenian authorities have failed to carry out an effective investigation into the circumstances of their relatives’ deaths and that they had no effective remedy in that respect.
The ECHR has requested the Armenian Government to submit copies of all the relevant documents, including the results of all the ballistic and other examinations conducted in the course of the investigation, as well as all the documents prepared by the parliamentary fact-finding group.
The relatives of the March 1 victims are represented at the European Court by attorney Vahe Grigoryan.
Recall, on March 1, 2008 at around 6 a.m. Armenian police forces, acting pursuant to the authorities' order (incumbent President Robert Kocharyan, then PM, presidential candidate Serzh Sargsyan), attacked an opposition camp site in Yerevan's Freedom Square and violently dispersed the several hundred demonstrators who'd been peacefully rallying in the square for 10 days following the February 9 presidential elections. For two hours following the dispersal of the demonstration, the demonstrators were chased in the streets of Yerevan by the police forces. During the evening hours, the police shot firearms at the protesters: as a result, 10 people – 2 police officers and 8 demonstrators – were killed. To this day, no one has been held liable for the March 1st deaths.