Saturday 18 September 2010

Armenia & Azerbaijan at European Court of Human Rights

EUROPEAN COURT CONSIDERS CASES RELATED TO
KARABAKH-AZERBAIJAN CONFLICT CONSEQUENCES
Panorama
Sept 15 2010
Armenia

Hearings of the lawsuit filed by 7 Azerbaijani citizens - "Chiragov
and others vs. Armenia" started today at the European Court of Human
Rights in Strasbourg at 12.00 pm by Yerevan time. Hearings of the case
"Sargsyan vs. Azerbaijan" were held after midday.

Both lawsuits relate to the Karabakh-Azerbaijan conflict, particularly,
citizens' ownership rights in conflict's active phase.

The 7 Azerbaijani citizens introduced themselves as Kurds who resided
in Lachin before the conflict where they had property - apartment,
car, etc. They were deprived of their property in the war and now
sue their ownership right.

The other claimant is Minas Sargsyan, former resident of the village
of Gyulistan, NKR Shahumyan region. He presents the circumstances of
forced leaving his native village and Azerbaijan's dismissal of his
claim to return home and sues his ownership right.

Minas Sargsyan referring to the facts of destruction of the Armenian
cemeteries in Baku and Jugha, in the European Court, also protested
against Azerbaijan's vandalism. He refers to violation of Article 14
of the European Convention on Human Rights (ban on discrimination)
since Azerbaijan acted against ethnic Armenians.
ECTHR JUDGE ASKS AZERIS: HAVE YOU APPLIED TO NKR?
Aysor
Sept 15 2010
Armenia


During the hearings of the case "Chiragov and others vs. Armenia" at
the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, judge Luis Lopez
Guerra asked the Azeri plaintiffs whether they had applied to the
Nagorno Karabakh Republic authorities for returning to their homes.

The representatives of Chiragov and others declared that the plaintiffs
had not applied to Azerbaijan since Azerbaijan does not control these
territories, neither they had applied to the Armenian authorities,
who also assert that they do not control these territories.

"And to Nagorno Karabakh?," the judge repeated his question.

Jean-Paul Costa, presiding judge at the hearings at ECtHR Grand
Chamber, warned the Azerbaijani delegation to answer the questions
of the judge essentially and not to repeat what they have already said.

Note that the European Court of Human Rights today launched hearings on
cases "Chiragov and others vs. Armenia" and "Sargsyan vs. Azerbaijan"
in Strasbourg.
NKR AUTHORITIES PROVIDE EXPLANATIONS TO EUROPEAN
COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
news.am
Sept 15 2010
Armenia


The Nagorno-Karabakh peace process is going on within the OSCE
Minsk Group, RA Representative to the European Court of Human
Rights Gevorg Kostanyan said, responding to a question concerning an
impact the Chiragovs and others vs. Armenia case might have on the
Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.

The interference of any other institutions may complicate the hard
process within the OSCE Minsk Group. Both the Armenian Government
and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, which have been involved in the
peace process since 1992 and thoroughly studied the conflict, have
repeatedly stated it, Kostanyan said.

He stressed that the Chiragovs and others vs. Armenia case does not
fit the requirements of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)
and is not to be considered by the European Court of Human Rights, as
the territories indicated in the claim are under Nagorno-Karabakh's
control. Nevertheless, the Armenian Government responded to the
European Court's inquiry and provided explanations as the second party
to the claim lodged against Azerbaijan. Specifically, the explanations
provided to the European Court of Human Rights contain the NKR
authorities' comment as well.

On September 15, the European Court of Human Rights is considering
two claims. The first claim was lodged by the Sargsyan family, who
had to leave the village of Gyulistan, Shahumyan region, in June
1992. In their claim, the Sargsyan family pointed out that Azerbaijan
is responsible for the destruction of cultural monuments and cemeteries
in the village.

The other claim was lodged by the Chiragov family.


ARMENIAN REPRESENTATIVE TO ECHR: AZERBAIJANIS DIDN'T
DENY ARGUMENTS OF ARMENIAN SIDE
Panorama
Sept 15 2010
Armenia

During "Chiragov and others vs. Armenia" case trial underway in the
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) attorneys of the Azerbaijani
plaintiffs and Azerbaijani government's representatives didn't deny
the arguments submitted by the Armenian side, the representative
of the Armenian government to the ECHR, Gevorg Kostanyan said after
the hearings.

As regards the level of preparedness and arguments of Azerbaijani side,
G. Kostanyan said he would have refrained from any statements had he
been asked the same before the trial.

"The arguments of Azeris were emotional, though, they couldn't be
any proof to their claim. Legally, they didn't reject the arguments
of the Armenian side," Kostanyan said.

ECHR kicked off Wednesday hearings on "Chiragov and others vs.

Armenia" in Strasbourg and another case "Sargsyan vs. Azerbaijan"
is supposed to launch on the second half of the day. Both trials
concern Karabakh-Azerbaijani conflict.


INCOMPETENT LAWYERS REPRESENT AZERBAIJAN AT
EUROPEAN COURT
news.am
Sept 15 2010
Armenia


In considering the Chiragovs vs. Armenia case, the European judges
ruled that the Azerbaijani lawyers did not even have knowledge of
their national laws.

The Armenian representative Alvina Gyulumyan asked the Azeri lawyers
about when the Land Code of Azerbaijan was enforced. None of the
Azeri lawyers could answer her question.

Foreign lawyers are mostly representing Azerbaijan's interests,
through the official representative J. Asgarov is a group member. The
Armenian side is represented by a group of Armenian experts headed
by Gevorg Kostanyan.

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