The case of Suren Antonyan v. Armenia (application no. 20140/23) concerned the dismissal of Mr Antonyan from his position as judge by the Supreme Judicial Council in January 2023. He had been appointed as a judge of the Civil and Administrative Chamber of the Court of Cassation in 2009, with tenure until the age of 65.
In today’s Chamber judgment in the case, the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been:
a violation of Article 6 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights as regards the alleged lack of impartiality of the Chair of the Supreme Judicial Council, and
no violation of Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair hearing) as regards the alleged lack of independence of the Supreme Judicial Council and as regards Mr Antonyan’s alleged lack of access to a court.
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The Court found in particular that the way in which non-judicial members were appointed to the Supreme Judicial Council could not be said to have compromised its independence. In particular, the institutional and operational arrangements in place provided sufficient formal safeguards and the Supreme Judicial Council acted as a “court” for the purposes of Article 6 § 1. At the same time, the Court found that the Supreme Judicial Council had failed to dispel Mr Antonyan’s justifiable doubts concerning the impartiality of its chair and that he had not been provided with sufficient procedural safeguards in that respect.
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Just satisfaction (Article 41)
As regards pecuniary damage, the Court considered that the most appropriate form of redress would be the reopening of the proceedings in accordance with the requirements of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention should Mr Antonyan so request.
The Court held that Armenia was to pay Mr Antonyan 3,600 euros (EUR) in respect of non-pecuniary damage and EUR 1,420 in respect of costs and expenses.
The European Court of Human Rights
