The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has delivered judgment in Farmanyan and Others v. Armenia, finding the Armenian authorities responsible for the deaths of demonstrators during the violent dispersal of post-election protests in Yerevan on 1 March 2008.
The Court unanimously held that Armenia violated Article 2 (right to life) of the European Convention on Human Rights in relation to seven of the nine victims. It found that police used excessive and indiscriminate lethal force against largely unarmed civilians, and that the subsequent investigation was politically biased and procedurally flawed.
The case was brought by relatives of those killed, with legal representation provided by the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC).
Prof. Philip Leach acted for the applicants alongside Tigran Yegoryan and EHRAC lawyers Vahe Grigoryan, Jess Gavron and Joanne Sawyer.
Click here to read the full judgment.