ECHR declares decision on case of "Varyan v. Armenia"

ArmInfo.The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) declared the decision on the case of "Varyan v.  Armenia".

The message on the ECHR website recalls that serviceman of the  Armenian Armed Forces Tigran Varyan, "T. Varyan, aged 18, was  conscripted into the Armenian army.  The applicant submitted that his  son had been found fit for non-combatant service only, in view of his  state of health. The Government disputed this, stating that T. Varyan  had been recognised as fit for combatant service. In that connection,  they submitted a copy of T. Varyan's personal file from the military  commissariat, from which it can be seen that, as a result of the  medical examinations carried out during the conscription procedure,  he had been diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse causing mitral valve  regurgitation (a heart condition where some blood flows the wrong way  because the flaps in the valve between the two chambers on the  left-hand side of the heart do not close smoothly or evenly as the  heart contracts). The file in question contains the Central Medical  Commission's decision finding him fit for combatant service.  T.  Varyan was subsequently assigned to military unit no. 38862 of the  Nagorno- Karabakh armed forces ("the military unit", situated in the  "Republic of Nagorno- Karabakh" (the "NKR")).  On 29 February 2012 T.  Varyan was found dead with a gunshot injury to his lower jaw that had  been inflicted by the assault rifle assigned to him."

The claim to the ECHR was filed in 2014 by the father of the deceased  serviceman on the fact of violation of Articles 2 and 13 of the  Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental  Freedoms.

Article 2 (Failure to take measures to effectively protect the life  of a conscript undergoing compulsory military service, who allegedly  committed suicide against the background of severe humiliation,  bullying and physical violence. Lack of specific measures to protect  against abuse during military service and to prevent suicide. Failure  of the domestic authorities to conduct an effective investigation  into the circumstances of the death).

Article 13 (Lack of an effective remedy. Legal impossibility to claim  compensation for moral damage caused as a result of the death of a  child).

After investigating all the circumstances of the incident, the ECHR  recorded the fact of violation of Varyan's right to life. According  to the decision, Armenia violated the substantive and procedural  norms of Article 2 of the Convention. The court ordered Armenia to  pay Varian's representative 30,000 euros (the applicant had requested  70,000 euros).