12.01.2018

ECHR rules in favor of the Armenian envoy to Denmark

JAMnews

Yerevan

When the Armenian Ambassador to Denmark, Alexander Arzumanyan filed a lawsuit against Armenia, he appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) as an opposition figure whose rights had been violated.

Arzumanyan served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia from 1996 to 1998. The country was ruled at the time by the first President of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosyan. In 2006, Arzumanyan, who was already an opposition activist, along with like-minded associates founded the Civil Disobedience movement.

In February 2017, Arzumanyan announced that he was going to quit the party. A few months later he was appointed as the Ambassador of Armenia to Denmark.

Arzumanyan was arrested in May 2007 ‘on suspicion of legalization of illegal incomes.’ The court ordered his detention ‘in view of the nature and the danger of the imputed offence and the fact that the applicant, if remaining at large, could abscond and obstruct the investigation by exerting unlawful influence on the people involved in the proceedings’. The detention period was repeatedly extended on the same grounds. In September 2007 Arzumanyan was released under a written undertaking not to leave his residence.

In December 2007, Arzumanyan lodged an application with the ECHR on the following grounds:

The court failed to provide relevant and sufficient reasons for his detention;
His right to personal security, inviolability and freedom was allegedly violated;
His right to stand trial within a reasonable time was allegedly violated.

The European Court of Human Rights found there had been violations of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, under which each person who has been arrested or detained is entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to be released pending trial.

The applicant claimed EUR 81 250 in respect of non-pecuniary damage. However, under the ECHR ruling, he was awarded EUR 2 500, of which EUR 2 000 was for non-pecuniary damage and EUR 500 for legal expenses.

The government’s appointed envoy has found himself in a rather tight situation and it’s unclear whether he is going to accept sum awarded by the ECHR or not.