Two Complaints Filed by Gagik Tsarukyan Accepted by the Court

Gagik Tsarukyan's legal team has issued a statement: "We inform you that two complaints filed by Gagik Tsarukyan to the European Court of Human Rights have been accepted by the Court.

The complaints raise issues of violations of rights guaranteed by Articles 3, 5, and 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as Article 4 of Protocol No. 7 of the Convention. They concern the unlawful and politically motivated criminal prosecution against Gagik Tsarukyan, illegal deprivation of liberty, inhuman and degrading treatment directed towards him, the misuse of criminal law restrictions for political purposes deviating from their legitimate aims, and the violation of the prohibition against repeated criminal prosecution regarding the same acts.

The presented facts, materials from domestic proceedings, the chronology of the criminal processes, and public statements from high-ranking state officials constitute an interconnected body of evidence. They demonstrate that the criminal justice system has been utilized not for lawful criminal justice purposes, but for the persecution, isolation, and removal of a political opponent from public and political activities. Political retribution does not become lawful merely because it is framed within criminal procedural decisions. The external formalities of criminal proceedings cannot obscure the genuine purpose of the persecution.

In both complaints, we have requested priority treatment from the Court in accordance with Rule 41 of its Regulations. The complaints pertain to fundamental rights under the Convention, including personal liberty, as well as the political misuse of the mechanisms for criminal prosecution by the state authority.

The established approach of the Court indicates that cases of this nature, involving politically motivated deprivation of liberty and violations of Article 18 of the Convention, receive priority attention and are typically communicated within tight deadlines.

We are confident that following a thorough examination of the complaints, the European Court of Human Rights will acknowledge the violations of Gagik Tsarukyan’s rights protected by the Convention. The combination of the legal and factual materials leaves no reasonable space for the claim that what is happening is a standard or politically neutral criminal prosecution.

These cases involve not only Gagik Tsarukyan’s individual rights but also the unacceptable practices of using criminal justice in Armenia as a tool for political retribution, for which the state will inevitably bear international legal responsibility."