The Administrative Court Recognized the Activities Applied against Levon Barseghyan by the Police Illegal

On February 17 of 2020 the RA Administrative Court (chaired by Judge Edward Nahapetyan) made a decision to satisfy the appeal filed by Levon Barseghyan against the RA Police, Kumayri Department of Gyumri Police, RA Artik Police Station and Aragatsotn Regional Police Station respectively with the demand to recognize the police activities illegal.

Haykuhi Harutyunyan and Nina Hakobyan presented the interests of Levon Barseghyan in the court.

Police Activities

On July 17 of 2016, the policemen of Aragatsotn Regional Police Department stopped the car of Levon Barseghyan with the suspicion of keeping or supporting to keep illegal arms and weapons. The latter was brought to Kumayri Police station with his car: within 10:29 to 14:10 PM respectively Levon Barseghyan’s right to movement was restricted and the latter was not provided with legal support and he was restricted to exercise his rights.

The procedure of criminal procedure

By the above mentioned facts, in 2016  the representatives of Levon Barseghyan filed a report on crime to Special Investigation Service, but the institution of the criminal case was rejected.

The decision of the Special Investigation Service was appealed, then in judicial order. The Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction, the Court of Appeal rejected the presented appeal and the RA Court of Cassation made a decision to return the appeal on October 23 of 2017.

The process of the administrative proceeding and the violation of the rights confirmed by the verdict of the Administrative Court

On February 15 of 2018, the representatives of Levon Barseghyan filed an application to the RA Court of Appeal with the ground to recognize the police activities of July 17 of 2016 illegal. The representatives of the applicant mentioned the violations of the applicant’s rights to freedom of movement, restriction of the applicant’s freedoms, the rights and guarantees of the detained applicant, freedom of expression, right to peaceful assemblies, restrain from the humiliating or inhumane treatment, discriminative treatments as justification in the outcome of police activities.

Special importance was paid to the problems of legitimacy of the secrecy for investigation and the operative data.

The violations of the applicant’s rights to freedom of movement, freedom of expression, freedom of peaceful assemblies, restrain from humiliating or inhumane treatment, discriminative attitude were confirmed by the made verdict.

Particularly, the court considered it as confirmed, that Levon Barseghyan was deprived from liberty within the perion of 10:29 PM to 14:10 of July 17, nevertheless, he was not provided with legal support and he could not exercise his rights.

As for the violation of the right to restrain from discrimination, the court confirmed the facts of Levon Barseghyan’s representatives, that there was a different approach in police activities between the other drivers and the applicant, which was demonstrated by the fact that “the applicant” was prohibited to move to Yerevan by car, in regard to which, no reasonable justification or legal objective was given, as well as the reasons to stop the car and its move were not provided.

By the assessment of the Court, the activities of the police were not restricted by the law, therefore the latter are illegal.