Epress.am News from Armenia
In February 2020, Yerevan General Jurisdiction Court, chaired by Naira Avetisyan, ruled in favor of plaintiff, resident of Armavir Tigran Balayan in recognition of non-material harm caused to him by his 1-day detention and 8-day criminal prosecution without legal grounds in April 2018.
Balayan’s lawyer, Arayik Zalyan of Vanadzor Citizen’s Assembly lodged a suit against Armenia’s Ministry of Finance demanding around 1.6mln AMD as moral compensation for the illegal detention, human suffering caused by detention and criminal prosecution of his defendant, Tigran Balayan by Armavir Marz’s police. He was detained in his native Armavir town in April 22, 2018 for allegedly participating in riots on Baghramyan street on April 16 in Yerevan. He was released after 1 day, while criminal investigation was carried out for 8 days. On April 30, 2018 the investigator of the Special Investigative Committee investigating the wrongdoings of state officials in relation to human rights and torture, ordered to drop criminal prosecution against Balayan due to lack of evidence.
While attorney Zalyan made references to precedents in European Human Rights Court’s rulings on amounts of moral compensation, the Court downsized the amount of the compensation to be paid to Tigran Balayan by the Ministry of Finance to 500.000 AMD in recognition of the psychological suffering incurred by the him for illegal detention.