New court rulings in Germany on status of Armenians expelled from  Nagorno-Karabakh

ArmInfo. In two judgments dated September 16, 2024 (1 K 1819/23.KS.A and 1 K 1820/23.KS.A), the  Administrative Court of Kassel ruled that the former residents of  Nagorno-Karabakh who had an Armenian passport with the issue code 070  and fled Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of the expulsion should not be  treated as citizens of Armenia,dearjv.de reports. 

"As a former resident of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the plaintiff  is ethnic Armenian, but not an Armenian citizen. Although the  residents of Nagorno-Karabakh have always been issued Armenian  passports in the past, according to the Armenian government, this was  only to enable them to travel abroad and without any recognition of  citizenship (Federal Foreign Office, Report on the situation in  Armenia relevant to asylum and deportation, as of December 2023, p.  12). The issuance of passports under this reservation was expressed  by marking the documents with the code number "070", which cannot be  found on passports of formally citizen Armenians (newspaper article  "eurasia-net" of October 30, 2023: Armenia to offer refugee status to  displaced Karabakhis). It was only in the course of the widespread  expulsion of ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh and their flight  to Armenia that the general public became aware that this group was  not granted any citizenship rights in Armenia. Rather, after fleeing  to undisputed Armenian territory, the Armenian government offered  them the opportunity to apply for Armenian citizenship. However,  nationality can only determine the country of origin for asylum  purposes if the person concerned has actually made use of an option  to accept nationality (BeckOK Mi-gR/Wittmann, 18th Ed. 15.1.2024,  AsylG  3 Rn. 21.2)." VG Kassel, judgment of 16.09.2024 (1 K  1820/23.KS.A).

The court also found that ethnic Armenians in the areas controlled by  Azerbaijan are continuously subjected to systematic discrimination,  which, according to the court, has a decades-long tradition in  Azerbaijan:

"Regardless of the continued existence of group persecution, which  can be left aside here, in the opinion of the single judge, the  refusal to issue civil status and travel documents to ethnic  Armenians of Azerbaijani origin already constitutes an act of  persecution within the meaning of Section 3a Paragraph 2 No. 2 of the  Asylum Act. It is a matter of considerable probability that this  refusal actually takes place and also affects the plaintiffs. After  all, discrimination against Armenians in Azerbaijan has a  decades-long tradition and has been documented many times. In  contrast, it is not clear why an exception should be made in the  plaintiffs' case in their favor."

VG Kassel, judgment of September 16, 2024 (1 K 1819/23.KS.A).

The court obliged the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees  (BAMF) to grant the plaintiffs refugee status in accordance with  Section 3 of the Asylum Act.

It will be interesting to see how other administrative courts assess  the legal situation.