ECtHR received the complaint on the case of serviceman Hayk Khachatryan who died of chickenpox
15:12, May 31, 2016 | News, Own news | Right to an Effective Remedy of Legal Protection, Right to be free from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, Right to Life | Hayk Khachatryan
Movses Khachatryan, successor of serviceman Hayk Khachatryan who died of chickenpox on December 30, 2011, received a letter from the European Court of Human Rights dated May 17, 2016 confirming the receipt of the complaint submitted to the Court with the help of his representative lawyer Mushegh Shushanyan.
Note that the complaint was substantiated under Article 2 (Right to life), Article 3 (Prohibition of torture) and Article 13 (Right to an effective remedy) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The applicant mentioned under Articles 2 and 3 of the ECHR that his son had been deprived of access to proper medical aid and as a result endured physical suffering and deceased. Receiving timely and proper medical aid would not only relieve his physical suffering, but also reduce the probability of the lethal outcome.
The state failed to carry out an effective investigation under Articles 3 and 13 of the ECHR to reveal the circumstances under which Hayk Khachatryan and his two fellow servicemen did a patrol service for 16 consecutive hours in cold weather conditions, which undermined his health and brought about the development of the disease. The claims of the aggrieved party on carrying out an investigation into the circumstances above and bringing the perpetrators to justice were ignored.
Moreover, from the very first moment of getting familiar with the files of the preliminary investigation within the criminal proceedings, the aggrieved party expressed a position that the charges brought against the accused did not comply with the evidence obtained under the case and required to charge them not under Article 376(1) (Negligent attitude to service) of the RA Criminal Code but rather under Part 2 of the Article above and Article 130(2) (Failure to implement or improper implementation of professional duties by medical and support personnel), respectively.
The RA Military Prosecutor’s Office in this way attempted to release the accused from criminal liability and punishment, and the military hospital staff faced no charges at all. For the same purpose, later by a first instance court ruling, Movses Khachatryan, Hayk Khachatryan’s father, was later deprived of his status of victim’s successor; this attempted to exclude any link between the negligent attitude of perpetrators to service and H. Khachatryan’s death.