Today, the European Court has announced a new judgment on a case against Armenia, obliging the country to pay 7,800 euros to a citizen.
In today’s Chamber judgment in the case of Nikolyan v. Armenia the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 6 § 1 (right of access to court) of the European Convention on Human Rights, and a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private life).
The case concerned an applicant who was declared legally incapable in 2013, following proceedings brought by his wife and son.
The Court found that the applicant could neither pursue his divorce and eviction claim against his wife nor seek restoration of his legal capacity in court because Armenian law imposed a blanket ban on direct access to the courts for those declared incapable.
That situation had been exacerbated by the fact that the authorities had appointed the applicant’s son as his legal guardian, despite their having a conflictual relationship.
Moreover, the judgment depriving the applicant of his legal capacity had relied on just one, out-dated psychiatric report, without analyzing in any detail the degree of his mental disorder or taking into account that he had no history of such illness.
