The experts of “Center for Strategic Litigations” NGO took the complaint of Mr. Ghuyumchyan to ECHR and worked hard on the case. Today ECHR made a judgment on the case.

The applicants case are the son (the first applicant), the daughter-in-law (the second applicant) and the wife (the third applicant) of Garegin Ghuyumchyan, now deceased. They were born in 1965, 1973 and 1947 respectively and live in Vanadzor, Armenia. This case concerned the applicant’s complaint that they had been deprived of access to court since they could not afford to hire an advocate. In the first case the late Garegin Ghuyumchyan and his wife Gyulnaz Ghuyumchyan ran a small family business. In July 2002 Garegin Ghuyumchyan was charged with bribe-taking. In September 2002 the charges were dismissed for lack of evidence, and in 2004 the family sold the business. In October 2004 Garegin Ghuyumchyan instituted proceedings seeking compensation for wrongful prosecution. The first and second applicants joined the proceedings. Garegin Ghuyumchyan was not represented during these proceedings. His claim was allowed in part. He appealed and ultimately the Court of Cassation refused to consider his appeal on points of law on the ground that it had not been lodged by an advocate licensed to act before it, as required by the domestic law.

Relying in particular on Article 6 § 1 (access to court) of the European Convention on Human Rights, the applicant complained that they had been denied access to the Court of Cassation as they could not afford the services of a licensed advocate.

Violation of Article 6 § 1 (access to court) – in respect of Vahan Ghuyumchyan (the son of Garegin Ghuyumchyan) Just satisfaction: 3,600 euros (EUR) each to Vahan Ghuyumchyan in respect of non-pecuniary damage.

http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-160090

On July 10, 2015 Tatevik Matinyan acting as a Venice Commission expert at the meeting of the Council of Europe and shared her expertise (holding a presentation and acting as a panelist) in strategic litigation for the benefit of a group of NGO representatives from Kyrgyzstan traveled to Strasbourg, France, for a seminar on the topic of Strategic Litigations between 8 and 11 July 2015, organised by the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe.

She presented the theory of planning and conducting strategic litigations supported by cases implemented by the experts of CSL. The presentation was followed by question/answer penal where Mrs. Matinyan also shared with the professional experience and advice on how to make strategic litigations a very effective tool for human rights organizations.

In accordance with the press release made by the Venice Commission representatives of NGOs, academia and journalists of the Kyrgyz Republic learned about the experience from several European countries on strategic litigation as well as about the Venice Commission’s practice of amicus curiae briefs. Strategic litigation is bringing carefully-selected public interest cases – often human rights cases – to a court on behalf of an individual, where the goal is to promote the interests of a wider group.
This seminar was a part of a study visit to the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights, which enabled the participants to follow closely the work of the Venice Commission, the Parliamentary Assembly, judges and lawyers of the ECtHR and other parts of the Council of Europe.
These events were organised jointly with the UNDP office in Bishkek in the framework of the project “Support to the Kyrgyz authorities in improving the quality and efficiency of the Kyrgyz Constitutional justice system” with funding provided by the European Union.

http://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/events/?id=2043

The project was designed for a group of 20 young people, from Austria, Ireland, Armenia, Georgia and Moldova, that came together in VadulluiVoda, Moldova. This was a follow up project of a Contact Making seminar in Tbilisi. Among the Armenian team there were two representatives from Youth Center for Democratic Initiatives NGO.

The main theme of the project was The Migration and Unemployment Problems of the Society. The project aimed to foster the sense of solidarity, critical in difficult economic times, to empower young leaders to engage actively and constructively with the issues by learning practical (media) skills and public awareness raising skills.

Participants shared their knowledge about migration and unemployment issues with each other and represented the situation in their respective countries. Also they developed photographic skills by participating in photo workshops organized by professional trainers, and then they broke into groups and prepared their own projects (video and photo projects). All the results were collected and posted online on different portals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DxHnauhH-J0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=j77JGM1F1hM

Within the framework of European Program Youth in Action InfoEck- youth information center Tirol/Austria invited youth workers from Armenia, Georgia and Belarus to get to know youth information work and youth work in Tyrol, Western Austria. The project “Job Shadowing” lasted for two weeks from November 20 to December 1, 2012.  AniDerdzyan, the representative from “Center for strategic Litigation” NGO, Armenia, was based in InfoEck but also visited other youth work institutions in whole Tyrol.

The aims of the project were to get to know methods and realities of youth work in Tyrol, share experiences concerning youth work in Armenia with local youth workers and youngsters and work on possible future projects with InfoEck. The activities were participative observation, team work, visits, discussions, planning and implementation of an event concerning Eastern Partnership Youth Window at InfoEck venue for youngsters and multipliers. The participants had a chance to share with their experience and ideas and also to make presentations of their countries and their own organizations.