Today, the European Court has delivered a number of judgments, including on the cases below.
Gurbanov v. Armenia (application no. 7432/17)
The applicant, Salman Gurbanov, is an Azerbaijani national who was born in 1968 and lives in Baku. The applicant’s 22-year-old son, a soldier in the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, was killed in military clashes that took place on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia on 29 December 2016. His body was found in the Tavush region of Armenia.
The case concerns the delayed return by the Armenian authorities of the body, which was only handed over to his family on 5 February 2017.
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Relying in particular on Articles 8 (right to respect of private and family life) and 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights, the applicant complains of inhuman treatment, that he and his family had not been able to bury the body in accordance with their religious tradition, that no effective remedies were available and that the underlying reasons for the refusal to return the body were discriminatory.
The Court found:
No violation of Article 8
No violation of Article 14
Ghazaryan and Bayramyan v. Azerbaijan (no. 33050/18)
The applicants are Armen Ghazaryan and Astghik Bayramyan, who were born in 1959 and 1958, respectively, and live in the village of Berdavan in Armenia a few kilometres away from the border with Azerbaijan.
The case concerns the applicants’ 39-year-old son who was apprehended in July 2018 in Azerbaijan not far from Berdavan where he lived with his parents. The Azerbaijani courts subsequently convicted him of conspiracy to carry out sabotage and terrorism attacks and sentenced him to 20 years’ imprisonment. He was returned to Armenia in December 2020 as part of an exchange of prisoners.
The applicants rely in particular on Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) and Article 5 (right to security and liberty) of the European Convention to complain about their son’s capture, detention and trial.
The Court found:
Violation of Article 5 § 1 in respect of the applicants’ son
Violation of Article 5 § 3 in respect of the applicants’ son
No violation of Article 5 § 4 in respect of the applicants’ son
Violation of Article 3 in respect of the applicants’ son
No violation of Article 3 in respect of the applicants
Just satisfaction:
non-pecuniary damage: EUR 10,000 euros for the applicants’ son; costs and expenses: EUR 3,225