ECHR rules EUR 6,500 compensation in "Hrachya Harutyunyan v. the Republic of Armenia" case
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According to the human rights activist, the ECHR ruled that Armenia violated the applicant's right to freedom of expression and that it must compensate the applicant 4,500 euros in moral damages and 2,000 euros in legal representation costs.
Zeynalyan explained that the case concerns "informing" about possible abuses and corruption in the INTER RAO UES company in 2002-2011 for millions of dollars (the applicant worked in the company's security system during those years and constantly reported this).
"The applicant sent his findings to a specially opened e-mail address of this company in a non-public manner (with the purpose of providing information on corruption and abuse) on 26.03.2012 and asked to conduct their investigation, but the Armenian courts held him liable for slander and insult based on the claim of the company official. The Armenian courts obliged the applicant to confiscate 2,400,000 Armenian drams in favor of the plaintiff, which was made from the funds received from the forced sale of the applicant's personal car and a one-room apartment in the center of Gyumri," the human rights activist explained.
According to Zeynalyan, the Court's decision is valuable from the point of view that already at the stage of the dispute in the ECHR, the Armenian authorities realized that they would lose, succumbed to the protection and pressure of civil society and that they were obliged to have a law protecting whistleblowers, as a result of which the RA Law "On the Whistleblowing System" was adopted in 2017.
"The ECHR called on the Armenian government and the applicant to agree on the amount of material damage and sign a settlement agreement.
It is noteworthy that in this and many similar ECHR cases, the Armenian government is struggling with all its might not to lose the case in the event that internal administrative resources can be directed to defending Armenia's interstate complaints in international courts, including defending against our complaints.
By accepting the demands of the complaints of this and many similar cases of the ECHR by the Armenian government or by signing a settlement agreement with the applicants, transitional justice would be implemented in practice, the ongoing violations and suffering of the victim of violations of the law would be stopped, and the ECHR would be relieved of its burden," Zeynalyan added. At the same time, he expressed hope that state bodies and officials will cancel court decisions and decisions that contradict the European Convention, and therefore the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, return the lost apartment and car to Hrachya Harutyunyan, compensate him for the ten-year feeling of injustice that he and his family have experienced, investigate the facts published in today's ECHR decision, and, if they are approved, restore the damage caused to Armenia, hold those responsible accountable, including the judges who issued unfair sentences and decisions (termination of powers is not necessary).