Both of Tsarukyan`s applications to the European Court of Human Rights have been accepted for consideration by the Court - lawyers

ArmInfo. The legal team representing businessman Gagik Tsarukyan, leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party, released a statement announcing that both petitions to the European Court of Human Rights have been accepted for consideration by the Court.

The petitions raise the issue of violations of rights guaranteed by Articles 3, 5, and 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as Article 4 of Protocol No. 7 to the Convention. This concerns the unlawful and politically motivated criminal prosecution of Gagik Tsarukyan, his unlawful deprivation of liberty, his inhumane and degrading treatment, the abuse of criminal law restrictions for political purposes beyond the legitimate aims provided by law, and the violation of the prohibition on double prosecution for the same crimes.

The presented facts, materials from domestic court proceedings, the chronology of criminal proceedings, and public statements by high-ranking government officials, taken together, form an interconnected evidentiary base. They demonstrate that the criminal justice system was used not for legitimate criminal purposes, but to persecute a political opponent, isolate him, and remove him from public and political activities. Political reprisals do not become lawful simply because they are formalized by procedural decisions within the framework of criminal proceedings. The outward formalities of criminal proceedings cannot conceal the true purpose of the prosecution.

"We also requested the ECtHR to consider both applications as a matter of priority, in accordance with Rule 41 of the Rules of Court. The complaints concern fundamental rights guaranteed by the Convention, including the right to liberty, as well as the abuse of criminal prosecution mechanisms by state bodies for political purposes. The ECtHR's established practice indicates that cases of this nature—politically motivated deprivation of liberty and violations of Article 18 of the Convention—are considered as a matter of priority and, as a rule, are communicated to the parties within a short timeframe. We are confident that, following a full examination of the applications, the European Court of Human Rights will find violations of Gagik Tsarukyan's rights protected by the Convention. The totality of the legal and factual materials presented, in our assessment, leaves no reasonable grounds to assert that what is happening constitutes an ordinary or politically neutral criminal prosecution." These cases concern more than just Gagik Tsarukyan's individual rights. They concern the unacceptable practice of turning criminal justice in Armenia into an instrument of political reprisal, for which the state will inevitably bear international legal responsibility," the lawyers' statement emphasized.