ECHR rules that Azerbaijan pay 60,000 euros to the family of Armenian man tortured to death
30.01.2020,
17:45
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Azerbaijan authorities are responsible for the death and torture of an Armenian man in a military police department cell
YEREVAN, January 30. /ARKA/. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled that Azerbaijan authorities are responsible for the death and torture of an Armenian man in a military police department cell
The case of Saribekyan and Balyan versus Azerbaijan concerned the death of the applicants’ son, an Armenian citizen, while in military police detention in Azerbaijan.
The Court found in particular that the applicants had made a prima facie case that their son, Manvel Saribekyan, had died as a result of the violent actions of others, notably personnel at the Military Police Department in Baku, where he was being held.
It could not accept the Azerbaijani authorities’ version of events that he had hanged himself. Furthermore, Azerbaijan had not provided any evidence to question Armenian forensic findings on injuries suffered by Saribekyan before his death, including signs of beating and a head trauma, ill treatment which had to be classified as torture.
The applicants, Mamikon Saribekyan and Siranush Balyan, are Armenian nationals. Their son, Manvel Saribekyan, born in 1990, was arrested in Azerbaijan in September 2010. His family state that he inadvertently crossed the border in the fog in a forest while looking for wood and stray cattle, however, the Azerbaijani authorities accused him of being part of a plan to blow up a school in a nearby Azerbaijani village.
He was taken to the Military Police Department of the Ministry of Defense in Baku and placed in a cell, where he was found dead in October 2010, with the Azerbaijani authorities subsequently finding that he had hanged himself.
A forensic report was issued. The body was returned to Armenia in November 2010 and the authorities there opened a criminal investigation. A forensic report found injuries on his neck, head and body. The Armenian Prosecutor General asked for legal assistance from Azerbaijan but as no reply was received the Armenian pre-trial investigation was suspended in December 2011.
The Court found that the suffering Manvel Saribekyan had endured had amounted to torture and that he had suffered a violation of his rights. The Court held by six votes to one that Azerbaijan was to pay the applicants 60,000 euros (EUR) jointly in respect of non-pecuniary damage and EUR 2,200 in respect of costs and expenses. -0-
The case of Saribekyan and Balyan versus Azerbaijan concerned the death of the applicants’ son, an Armenian citizen, while in military police detention in Azerbaijan.
The Court found in particular that the applicants had made a prima facie case that their son, Manvel Saribekyan, had died as a result of the violent actions of others, notably personnel at the Military Police Department in Baku, where he was being held.
It could not accept the Azerbaijani authorities’ version of events that he had hanged himself. Furthermore, Azerbaijan had not provided any evidence to question Armenian forensic findings on injuries suffered by Saribekyan before his death, including signs of beating and a head trauma, ill treatment which had to be classified as torture.
The applicants, Mamikon Saribekyan and Siranush Balyan, are Armenian nationals. Their son, Manvel Saribekyan, born in 1990, was arrested in Azerbaijan in September 2010. His family state that he inadvertently crossed the border in the fog in a forest while looking for wood and stray cattle, however, the Azerbaijani authorities accused him of being part of a plan to blow up a school in a nearby Azerbaijani village.
He was taken to the Military Police Department of the Ministry of Defense in Baku and placed in a cell, where he was found dead in October 2010, with the Azerbaijani authorities subsequently finding that he had hanged himself.
A forensic report was issued. The body was returned to Armenia in November 2010 and the authorities there opened a criminal investigation. A forensic report found injuries on his neck, head and body. The Armenian Prosecutor General asked for legal assistance from Azerbaijan but as no reply was received the Armenian pre-trial investigation was suspended in December 2011.
The Court found that the suffering Manvel Saribekyan had endured had amounted to torture and that he had suffered a violation of his rights. The Court held by six votes to one that Azerbaijan was to pay the applicants 60,000 euros (EUR) jointly in respect of non-pecuniary damage and EUR 2,200 in respect of costs and expenses. -0-
