Armenian Opposition Activists’ Case Can Go Straight to European Court of Human Rights: Attorney

The Armenian National Congress (HAK) activists' case can be brought before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) without first going through all the domestic courts, claimed attorney Ara Ghazaryan, in conversation with Epress.am, referring to an incident on Wednesday whereby the young activists were taken to the police station while they were distributing and pasting flyers about an upcoming rally on March 1.

According to the attorney, it's not just the obvious violations, such as violating the right of assembly and the explicit use of force, but that often such violations are committed against HAK activists. "What's important here is providing context. This was not the first time this has happened to HAK activists, and experience shows that the mechanism of legal protection doesn't work in Armenia," he said. 

The ECtHR may accept the case without it going through the domestic courts, Ghazaryan said, also because not only international agencies, but also the various bodies of the Council of Europe in the last six months have regularly stated that Armenia regularly violates the right to freedom of assembly and the right to inform.

"This means that the problem is known also outside the country.The most striking manifestations of these violations are first, the so-called administrative detention; second, the [police] openly shooting video, which though is presented as being done for administrative and legal purposes, actually is done with the goal of criminal and even political persecution (but disguised as administrative procedures)," he said. 

The attorney said there is precedence of the ECtHR accepting applications by Armenian nationals of cases that have not gone through all the domestic courts. For example, in the cases of Tadevosyan v. the Republic of Armenia ("The Court reiterates that the only remedies to be exhausted are those which are effective") and Mkhitaryan v. the Republic of Armenia, the parties were disputing the conditions of arrest they were subject to. The ECtHR not only began the proceedings, but also ruled in the plaintiffs' favor, considering that Armenia violated Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. 

Video credit: Sargis Gevorgyan