European Court Finds Armenia Guilty in Manukyan’s Case
The European Court of Human Rights issued its judgement finding that Hrayr Manukyan’s right to private and family life to an effective remedy were violated by the Republic of Armenia.
In 2014 Manukyan, who was a newly elected member of the standing governing body of an opposition party at the time, was approached by an agent of the National Security Service of Armenia and asked to cooperate with that service.
In June 2014 Manukyan met the agent in a café and secretly recorded their conversation. During the meeting the applicant refused to cooperate. The
agent claimed to know things about Manukyan and made a series of statements concerning the potential consequences of his refusal to cooperate.
In July 2014 Manukyan submitted a crime report to the Prosecutor General along with the audio recording of the conversation. No criminal proceedings
were brought against the agent and appeals by Manukyan against decisions in that connection were ultimately unsuccessful.
Manukyan was granted asylum in the Netherlands in April 2016.
Relying on Article 8 (right to private and family life) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the European Convention on Human Rights Manukyan alleged that his personal information had been collected by the security services and complains of an unjustified interference with his private and
family life and of a lack of an effective investigation in that regard.
The Court found the Armenian government guilty and ordered the payment of 5,000 euros to Manukyan.
