ECHR has no jurisdiction over Nagorno-Karabakh issue, says Armenian justice official
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will issue on Tuesday its rulings over the cases “Chiragov and others vs Armenia” and “Sargsyan vs Azerbaijan”.
The proceedings, which involve Azerbaijani Kurds on the one hand and an Armenian citizen - on the other (as claimants), are of major importance for both Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. For comments on Armenia’s positions and possible expectations, Tert.am has interviewed Emil Babayan, a deputy prosecutor general and the Armenian Government’s authorized representative to the ECHR.
Mr Babayan, although the proceeding has been long going on at the Strasburg court, the society does not seem to be fully aware of it. What demands do, after all, the Armenian and Azerbaijani refugees raise at the European Court?
It has really been a long time – more than 10 years – that these two cases are on the European Court’s agenda. More specifically, the applicants in the case “Chiragov and others vs Armenia” lodged the appeal back on April 6, 2005; as for “Sargsyan vs Azerbaijan”, the [proceeding was filed] on August 11, 2006. The applicants in the Chiragov case are six Azerbaijani citizens, ethnic Kurds (Elkhan Chiragov, Adishirin Chiragov, Ramiz Gebrayilov, Akif Hasanof, Fekhreddin Pashayev and Qaraca Gabrayilov), who resided in Lachin and the neighboring villages. They now complain that [military] operations on May 17-18, 1992 - which led to liberation of Lachin and the opening of a humanitarian corridor - amounted to a violation of their rights to property, family and private life, effective remedy and prohibition of discrimination under Articles One, Eight, 13 and 14 of the [European] Convention [on Human Rights].
The applicant in the case Sargsyan vs Azerbaijan was Minas Sargsyan who, unfortunately, passed away in 2009, so now his widow, Lena Sargsyan, and three children, act as legal successors in court. The facts behind his complaint are that the family had to flee to Armenia and settle in Yerevan as refugees to save their lives together with all the other residents of Gulistan (Shahumyan region), their native village, which faced heavy shellings by Azerbaijan’s armed forces on June 12-13, 1992. The applicants demand that the European Court recognize their rights violated under the same articles. The only difference is that the applicants in this particular case find that the Azerbaijani authorities also violate their right to freedom of religion (protected under Article 9) by vandalizing Armenian graves.
Both the Armenian and Azerbaijani refugees demand that the European Court recognize their violated rights and offer a fair remedy.
A logical question arising from your statement is, why the lawsuit was filed against the Republic of Armenia given that Lachin or, to be more correct, Berdzor is part of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic?
I agree with you that such a question may really arise. You, as a matter of fact, raised a question which is a point of principle in the Chilingarov case and addresses Armenia’s authority [to take any action] under the international law. As we started collecting correspondence over the Chilingarov case back in 2006, our position was repeatedly raised at the European Court to insist that the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is an independent state and must therefore be the competent respondent under the case. In other words, our position has always been the fact that the Republic of Armenia has no authority over Nagorno-Karabakh and hence – Berdzor, and therefore it cannot be the right competent respondent in the case.
So can we expect the European Court to pass political or rather - geopolitical rulings?
I would paraphrase it slightly differently. The European Court’s ruling will be purely legal but may incur the influence of political or geopolitical factors. And most importantly, it may have political and geopolitical implications. I am hopeful that while making a decision, the judges at the European Court will realize that they are dealing with a case where any ruling will inevitably have its impact on the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the [OSCE] Minsk Group-mediated negotiations. That concern was the reason that in our objections submitted to the European Court from the very outset, we insisted that the European refugees’ issue was not subject to the jurisdiction of the European Court, as it was being, inter alia, discussed within the Minsk Group format to receive a comprehensive solution. Our position was that any ruling by the European Court would be an intervention in the negotiation process, which is undesired and dangerous.
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