Avagyan v. Armenia: The ECHR Recognized the Violated Right of the Life Sentenced Person to the Fair Trail

On November 22 of 2018, the European Court of Human Rights made a verdict on the case Avagyan v. Armenia.

ECHR recognized the violation of Kh. Avagyan’s right to fair trial under the conditions of the following factual circumstances and justifications.

The Applicant, Kh. Avagyan, mentioned by the given case that he had been deprived from the opportunity to interrogate the experts and to appeal the given expertise conclusion during the examination of the given case, which had a crucial consequence to confirm his guilt. Being deprived from such opportunity and making a decision on life sentence led to the violation of the rights envisaged by Article 6.1 and 6.3 of the Convention.

The Court, having examined the mentioned facts and raised questions, found that the applicant’s demand to listen to the experts was groundless. Moreover, the Court found that the experts opinions had essential significance for the case, since based on the presented opinions, the domestic courts should have decided whether the death of the victims was a result of intended murder or not.

The Court accepted, that the Applicant’s intervention to hear the experts at the court was very important in case of life sentence. The Court recorded, that depriving the experts from being investigated and listened to led to the violation of the equality and competition principals of the parties under the Articles 6.1 and 6.3 of the Convention.