Today we were informed by a letter received from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) that the Republic of Azerbaijan did not file—within the timeframe set—an appeal to the ECtHR Grand Chamber against the decision on the Badalyan v. Azerbaijan case, as a result of which the decision has entered into legal force. The Court also noted that ensuring the implementation of this decision is the function of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The chairman of the Bright Armenia Party, Edmon Marukyan, wrote this on Facebook Saturday morning. He added as follows:

Let me remind that the verdict in the case Badalyan v. Azerbaijan (complaint no. 51295/11) had been made on July 22, 2021. With this case, the European Court had recorded that the government of Azerbaijan had not provided a convincing and sufficient explanation that [Armenian man] Artur Badalyan's serious mental health problems, which had arisen immediately after being released from [Azerbaijani] imprisonment, are in no way related to his detention conditions and the treatment Badalyan had received during his imprisonment. Thus, the European Court has concluded that there has been a violation of Article 3 of the ECHR [(European Convention on Human Rights)]that is, "No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."

Moreover, the European Court had noted that the Azerbaijani government had not submitted any material or information to prove the fact that Badalyan was a prisoner of war. There was no further argument brought that Article 5 of the Convention does not apply to Badalyan's case, and that Azerbaijan had not claimed that Badalyan's detention had complied with Article 5 1st Section 1st Point of the ECHR, or that any procedural guarantees had been provided to Badalyan.

Thus, the European Court had concluded that there had also been a violation of Article 5 1st Section 1st sub point of the ECHR; that is, "Everyone has the right to liberty and personal immunity. No one shall be deprived of his liberty other than in the cases provided for in this article, and in the manner prescribed by law."

With this case, the ECtHR has obligated the Republic of Azerbaijan to pay 30,000 euros to Badalyan as compensation for moral damage.