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On May 30, 2017 Sari Tagh district protestor Hrachya Boyajyan’s defense attorney Arayik Zalyan, lawyer at HCA Vanadzor, filed with the European Court of Human Rights an application on his illegal arrest and detention.

The application is based on the violations of the right to liberty and security of person (Article 5), freedom of assembly and association (Article 11) and right to an effective legal remedy (Article 13) prescribed under the European Convention on Human Rights,.

Hrachya Boyajyan has been detained since September 2016 and is charged with using violence in the sense of Article 316(2), RA Criminal Code, against police officers on July 19, 2016 in the area adjunct to M. Khorenatsi Street in Yerevan city.

Note that among other residents of Sari Tagh district, Hrachya Boyajyan took to the street because of termination of gas, water and electricity supply to their apartments and of the work of the public transport. At the sudden swear words and show-off by the police officers of their arms, they felt insulted and started throwing stones at them. No judgment has been made on this case so far. The next court hearing at the General Jurisdiction Court of Erebuni and Nubarashen administrative districts of Yerevan city is scheduled for September 12, 2017, 3 pm. H. Boyajyan may face 5-10 years in prison.

In his application to the ECtHR, Hrachya Boyajyan defense attorney provided grounds that H. Boyajyan’s actions were not aimed against any representative of authorities, such actions received a wrong and unjustified legal assessment and he was kept in detention without any legal grounds.

A. Zalyan noted that there was no evidence and information proving Hr. Boyajyan’s involvement in the crime charged on him and the court ruling on his detention was based solely on police officers’ testimonies; moreover, such testimonies contain no information on the act charged upon Hr. Boyajyan.

Also, when applying detention as a preventive measure, the court took no account of the persons in his care and his family’s living conditions. And Hr. Boyajyan’s defense attorney’s applications on changing the preventive measure were rejected both by the court of first instance and by the Court of Appeals. And the RA Court of Cassation did not admit the application at all.

The complaint stressed that the detention interfered with Hrachya Boyajyan’s freedom of assembly and aimed to create an atmosphere of fear in the society.

The European Court of Human Rights confirmed receipt of the application.