European Court delivers judgment in case concerning Armenians killed protesting 2008 election result

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has found that Armenia violated the right to life of nine activists who died as the result of the violent dispersal of protests against the 2008 presidential election result.

This group of cases (FARMANYAN AND OTHERS v. ARMENIA) was co-litigated by the Armenian lawyers Vahe Grigoryan and Artak Zeynalyan and EHRAC.

The ECtHR found that the initial violent dispersal of the peaceful protest by police without warnings was unjustified and disproportionate as well as escalatory, resulting in the subsequent disorder. It dismissed the Government’s contention that the protesters were armed with firearm type weapons and held that the deaths of three applicants from the firing of gas cannisters at close range and of four applicants from the firing of live ammunition “resulted from a badly planned and executed operation involving the improper use of crowd-control weapons and the indiscriminate and disproportionate use of lethal force.”

The ECtHR found violations of the substantive and procedural limbs of the right to life (Article 2 of the European Convention of Human Rights). The additional failure of the authorities to provide the relevant evidence to the Court constituted a further violation of Article 38 of the Convention. All applicants were awarded 30,000 Euros in compensation.

‘This case is of national significance to Armenia. On 1 March 2008, a peaceful protest turned into a matter of life and death because of the authorities’ unregulated and totally disproportionate use of live ammunition and firing of tear gas cannisters as weapons. This case highlights what the Court referred to as a ‘systemic problem’ concerning the lack of regulation and supervision of less lethal and lethal force. EHRAC will continue to challenge the use of these life-threatening measures against protestors.’

Jessica Gavron, Co-Director, EHRAC

The protests and police response

In the aftermath of the February 2008 presidential elections, the main opposition candidate, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, called for mass protests, claiming electoral fraud. Crowds established a camp in the area around Yerevan’s Freedom Square, and maintained a peaceful presence there for several days.

In the early hours of 1 March, police attempted to disperse the estimated 1000 protestors. They destroyed the protestors’ tents, and beat them with rubber truncheons. A running battle followed, as protestors tried to evade the police.

On the evening of 1 March, armed police launched a further operation opening fire on protestors with live ammunition and tear gas cannisters fired from grenade launchers. This continued into the following day.

The applicants’ relatives died due to a combination of gunshot wounds and traumatic head injuries.

Main image: Serouj – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3653411