The European Court of Human Rights has accepted the complaint filed by HCA Vanadzor on the case of the killed servicemen and has addressed questions to the RA Government
18:01, November 1, 2017 | 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
On August 28, 2017, the European Court of Human Rights commenced proceedings and addressed its questions to the parties based on the complaint of the legal successors of servicemen Robert Hovhannisyan and Andranik Sargsyan, who were killed in the NKR Defense Army on July 28, 2010.
According to the official version, the incident took place at a military base where Senior Lieutenant V. Tadevosyan, seeing that his subordinate servicemen A. Sargsyan and K. Ayvazyan had fallen asleep while performing military duty, insulted them, cursed and attempted to resort to violence, which was prevented by two officers. The latter urged addressing the issue after the shift.
In the cabin of the military base, in the presence of other servicemen, V. Tadevosyan continued the reproach and blasphemy and started beating A. Sargsyan. According to the official version, K. Ayvazyan, realizing that the same was expecting him, fired the weapen clamped to him and killed the commander, then killed four other fellow soldiers and committed suicide.
The criminal case instituted on this incident on the same day was terminated a year after on the basis of the death of the perpetrators. And the complaints of the Aggrieved Party against the decision to terminate the criminal case were rejected.
It is noteworthy that according to the expert conclusion, alcohol was found in the blood of the killed servicemen. According to the expert, Senior Lieutenant V. Tadevosyan was also drunk at the time of the incident.
In addition to gunshot wounds, other injuries were found on the bodies of the killed servicemen, with regards to which the body conducting the proceedings did not undertake an investigation.
And Karo Ayvazyan, who was charged with murders, before being drafted lived in the United States, where he was sentenced to three years in prison, after which he was deported to Armenia. The US Court ruled that it was forbidden for him to carry weapons and be in places where there was a weapon. However, even with an existing document regarding this, he was drafted.
The complaint was presented to the ECHR in 2013 by the representatives of the legal successors of the killed servicemen, the Chairman of HCA Vanadzor A. Sakunts and the Lawyer of the Organization A. Zalyan.
The complaint presented arguments regarding the fact that the Republic of Armenia had not protected the right to life of the servicemen under its control, had not properly investigated the violation despite the existence of numerous unresolved questions and contradictions in the criminal case. It violated the right to life under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
A proper investigation has not been carried out with regards to the commander torturing the servicemen subordinate to him instead of imposing a penalty in the prescribed manner. The state has thus violated the right of freedom from torture secured under Article 3 of the ECHR.
Finally, the legal successors of the victims were deprived of the opportunity to participate in the investigation, which violated their right to an effective remedy of legal protection secured under Article 13 of the ECHR.
The ECHR posed to the RA Government questions about the violations of the rights mentioned in the complaint as well as demanded copies of the protocols of investigative actions conducted within the frameworks of the criminal case and K. Ayvazyan’s conscription documents.
The Government of the Republic of Armenia should respond to the questions raised by the European Court within 16 weeks.