ECtHR upholds complaint of Helsinki Committee of Armenia about ban of march in Yerevan

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has found that the Yerevan Mayoralty violated two articles of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), when prohibited the Helsinki Committee of Armenia to hold a march in the city centre in memory of the death of a man in a police station.

It had been planned to dedicate the funeral procession, which was applied for to the Mayoralty of Yerevan by the Armenian Helsinki Committee, to memory of Levon Gulyan. The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Gulyan died after falling from the second level of the police building, where he was summoned as a witness to testify about the murder that occurred in front of his entity – the tavern "Pandok" in the Yerevan community of Shengavit. His successors had also complained to the ECtHR on the circumstances of his death.

On May 6, 2008, the Helsinki Committee of Armenia notified the Yerevan Mayoralty about its intention to hold a march on May 12 rally in memory of Gulyan, but the Mayoralty's response, banning the event because of the state of emergency in Yerevan arrived only on May 13.

The Helsinki Committee then complained to the ECtHR, referring to Articles 11 (freedom of assembly and association) and 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the ECHR and stating that the Mayoralty's response received after the date of the planned action was illegal.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.