The report reflect war crimes and crimes against humanity that Azerbaijan committed against ethnic Armenians during the 44-day war in 2020. It was elaborated taking into consideration the statements made in open sources, by famous international organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, Amnesty International etc., as well as the articles of major media outlets, such as BBC, Al Jazeera, Reuters, The Independent, France 24 and so on.
Today a round table discussion took place in Yerevan during which The Report on the war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the 44-day war of 2020 committed by Azerbaijan was presented.
The “Center for Strategic Litigations“ NGO with assistance of the Open Society Foundations – Armenia realized a project aimed to collect the available war crime evidence and, inter alia, letters with supported evidence were sent to the governments of the EU countries, Great Britain, the USA and Canada to launch criminal investigations under National and Universal Jurisdiction and to request application of personal economic sanctions against high level officials and military personnel of Azerbaijan.
The report was elaborated taking into consideration the statements made in open sources, by famous international organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, Amnesty International etc., as well as the articles of major media outlets, such as BBC, Al Jazeera, Reuters, The Independent, France 24 and so on.
During the round table speeches were made by the President of the Center for Strategic Litigations Edmon Marukyan, Human Righst Defender of Armenia Kristinne Grigoryan, Representative of the Republic of Armenia before the European Court of Human Rights Yeghishe Kirakosyan, Expert of International law, Board Member of the Center for Strategic Litigations Taron Simonyan. The Report was presented by Ruzanna Avagimyan, Attorney at Law and a Board Member at the Center for Strategic Litigations.
Today, within the framework of the “International Legal Mechanisms for Prosecution of War Criminals and Protection of Property Rights” project Tatevik Matinyan, the project manager and project assistant Mariam Khzmalyan met with Yeghishe Kirakosyan, representative of the Republic of Armenia at the European Court of Human Rights.
During the meeting interstate complain submitted to the ECHR by the Republic of Armenia and Individual complaints submitted to the ECHR by the “Center for Strategic Litigation” NGO for the protection of the property rights of persons forcibly displaced as a result of 44-day war were discussed.
As of 1 February 2022 the time-limit for submitting an application to the European Court of Human Rights is four months following the final domestic judicial decision in the case, which is usually a judgment delivered by the highest court in the country concerned. The time-limit was previously six months.
This new time-limit is not retroactive: it does not apply to applications in which the final domestic decision was taken prior to 1 February 2022. In other words, it will only apply to applications in which the final domestic decision is given from 1 February 2022 onwards.
The four-month time-limit for applying to the Court after the final domestic decision is one of the admissibility criteria laid down in Article 35 of the Convention. If even one of these criteria is not met the application will be declared inadmissible, which is why it is essential to comply with all the requirements when submitting an application to the Court.
The change to the time-limit for applying to the Court arises out of Protocol No. 15 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which has been signed and ratified by the 47 member States of the Council of Europe. This text amending the Convention entered into force on 1 August 2021, but provided for a transition period before the change of time-limit became effective.
Today, on November 30, 2021, the ECHR published the case of Derenik Mkrtchyan and Gayane Mkrtchyan vs Armenia.
Derenik G., aged 10, was a fourth-grade pupil at School No. 5 in Charentsavan. On 5 June 2010 he had a mathematics examination. While the teacher was away, the pupils had a fight, as a result of which Derenik G. was beaten up by two of his classmates, I.H. and V.H., who were brothers. During the fighting, Derenik G. and other pupils screamed loudly. Having heard the noise, the janitor entered the classroom. Thereafter, the form teacher and other teachers came in. They found Derenik G. lying unconscious on the floor. Derenik G. was already dead when he was admitted to hospital.
the Court considers that there are insufficient elements in the evidence before it to conclude that the school’s authorities failed to comply with their obligation under Article 2 of the Convention to provide the requisite standard of protection for Derenik G.’s life. Consequently, there has been no violation of Article 2 of the Convention in its substantive limb.
the Court is of the view that the investigation into the circumstances of the school incident which resulted in the death of Derenik G. fell short of the requirements of Article 2 of the Convention. In view of that conclusion, the Court considers it unnecessary to examine whether the other aspects of the investigation met the requirements of the Convention. There has accordingly also been a violation of Article 2 of the Convention under its procedural limb.
Those the Court,
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