ECHR rules EUR 6,500 compensation in "Hrachya Harutyunyan v. the  Republic of Armenia" case

ArmInfo.The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has issued a decision on the case of "Hrachya  Harutyunyan v. the Republic of Armenia" (No. 15028/16)), Human rights activist Artak Zeynalyan wrote about this on his Facebook page.

According to the human rights activist, the ECHR ruled that Armenia  violated the applicant's right to freedom of expression and that it  must compensate the applicant 4,500 euros in moral damages and 2,000  euros in legal representation costs.

Zeynalyan explained that the case concerns "informing" about possible  abuses and corruption in the INTER RAO UES company in 2002-2011 for  millions of dollars (the applicant worked in the company's security  system during those years and constantly reported this).

"The applicant sent his findings to a specially opened e-mail address  of this company in a non-public manner (with the purpose of providing  information on corruption and abuse) on 26.03.2012 and asked to  conduct their investigation, but the Armenian courts held him liable  for slander and insult based on the claim of the company official.  The Armenian courts obliged the applicant to confiscate 2,400,000  Armenian drams in favor of the plaintiff, which was made from the  funds received from the forced sale of the applicant's personal car  and a one-room apartment in the center of Gyumri," the human rights  activist explained.

According to Zeynalyan, the Court's decision is valuable from the  point of view that already at the stage of the dispute in the ECHR,  the Armenian authorities realized that they would lose, succumbed to  the protection and pressure of civil society and that they were  obliged to have a law protecting whistleblowers, as a result of which  the RA Law "On the Whistleblowing System" was adopted in 2017.

"The ECHR called on the Armenian government and the applicant to  agree on the amount of material damage and sign a settlement  agreement.

It is noteworthy that in this and many similar ECHR cases, the  Armenian government is struggling with all its might not to lose the  case in the event that internal administrative resources can be  directed to defending Armenia's interstate complaints in  international courts, including defending against our complaints.

By accepting the demands of the complaints of this and many similar  cases of the ECHR by the Armenian government or by signing a  settlement agreement with the applicants, transitional justice would  be implemented in practice, the ongoing violations and suffering of  the victim of violations of the law would be stopped, and the ECHR  would be relieved of its burden," Zeynalyan added. At the same time,  he expressed hope that state bodies and officials will cancel court  decisions and decisions that contradict the European Convention, and  therefore the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, return the  lost apartment and car to Hrachya Harutyunyan, compensate him for the  ten-year feeling of injustice that he and his family have  experienced, investigate the facts published in today's ECHR  decision, and, if they are approved, restore the damage caused to  Armenia, hold those responsible accountable, including the judges who  issued unfair sentences and decisions (termination of powers is not  necessary).