The applicant, Lavrenti Kirakosyan, is an Armenian national who was born in 1960 and lives in the village of Karakert, Armenia. The case essentially concerned his complaint about an allegedly unlawful search of his home by the police and the subsequent use of the evidence obtained thereby in criminal proceedings against him.
Mr Kirakosyan, who was an opposition activist, was arrested in April 2004 in the wake of several protest rallies in which he had participated. An administrative case was brought against him for disobeying the lawful orders of police officers, and he was sentenced to ten days’ administrative detention. After serving that sentence he was taken by the police to his home, where a search was conducted. The search warrant stated that Mr Kirakosyan was suspected of illegally hiding a weapon in his house, which he denied. As a result of the search, police found a plastic bag containing grams of cannabis. Mr Kirakosyan stated that he did not know what the substance was and to whom it belonged. According to his submissions, he was then taken to the police station again, where the chief of police promised that, if Mr Kirakosyan renounced his political convictions and resigned from the opposition party whose local office he headed, no further action would be taken in relation to
the drugs found on him. He refused to agree to the deal. A few days later he was charged with illegal drug possession and detained by a court order. In June 2004 he was convicted as charged and sentenced to one and a half years’ imprisonment. The judgment was eventually upheld in December 2004. In September 2004 he was released on parole.
Mr Kirakosyan complained in particular that the search warrant and the manner in which the search had been conducted had been in violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life, the home and the correspondence) of the European Convention on Human Rights.No violation of the Article 8 was found.
