“The Armenian government has begun to have a dangerous approach towards cases that have reached the European Court of Human Rights. It is trying to use future decisions for political gain,” second President Robert Kocharyan’s lawyer Hayk Alumyan told reporters.
He spoke about one of Nikol Pashinyan’s speeches in Paris in 2018. According to Alumyan, Pashinyan had emphasized at the time that it would be right for the state to reach agreements with Armenian citizens who appealed to the ECHR. “But now we will not go down that path. Let all cases regarding Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan lose in the ECHR and come back to Armenia. Then they can tell us how dozens of cases received illegal decisions,” Hayk Alumyan said.
He said that the Prime Minister implied that decisions in the ECHR will be used for political gain. “This is an order to our representatives in the ECHR to not oppose complaints. The Prime Minister wants for cases to lose in the ECHR so that he can show that the former authorities broke the law. This is dangerous. Soon the March 1st case will be discussed in the ECHR. If our government does not present facts, the ECHR will conclude that human rights violations took place. If facts are presented, the ECHR may make another decision, but our government will not resist the ECHR soon. It will be using the ECHR’s decisions for its own gain.”
Mass protests were held in Armenia after the presidential elections in 2008. The protests were organized by the supporters of the first President of the Republic of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrossian. During the protest held on March 1, 2008, clashes broke out between police and protesters. Then-President Robert Kocharyan declared a 20-day state of emergency. A major court case has been underway as a result of these events.
Luiza Sukiasyan
