European Court Grants Urgent Measures in the Case of Narek Sardarayan Detained in Azerbaijan

The former Minister of Justice Artak Zeynalanyan posted a note on his Facebook page announcing that the European Court granted the application for urgent measures in the case of Narek Sardarayan, a citizen of Armenia who is currently detained in Azerbaijan, on July 22, 2020.

“The European Court accepted our application for urgent measures concerning Narek Sardarayan, who is detained in the Republic of Azerbaijan, on July 22, 2020. On behalf of Narek’s wife, parents, and sister, we submitted a request to the European Court of Human Rights against Azerbaijan on July 19, 2020 (Artak Zeynalanyan, Arayik Ghazaryan), requesting the application of urgent measures: 1) to take all necessary steps to ensure Narek Sardarayan’s physical and psychological integrity, 2) to inform about Narek Sardarayan’s whereabouts and health conditions, 3) to ensure communication between Narek Sardarayan and his family in Armenia (the applicants), 4) if a criminal case has been initiated against him in Azerbaijan, to send the applicants the materials of the criminal case; 5) to organize Narek Sardarayan’s return to Armenia. The European Court granted our application for urgent measures on July 22, 2020, and demanded Azerbaijan to take the following actions: 1) to provide information about Narek Sardarayan’s whereabouts and conditions, 2) to provide information about his health status (with confirmed medical documentation, if available) and whether a medical examination has been conducted by an independent specialist, 3) to clarify whether a criminal case has been initiated against him, and if so, to provide all relevant details and documents, including any charges against him; 4) to inform if a lawyer has been appointed; 5) to clarify whether he has the opportunity to fully communicate with his relatives and the authorities of Armenia.

The court also prioritized this complaint and set a deadline for submitting the main complaint. A deadline was also established for the respondent state to carry out the expected actions.

It should be noted that recently, on July 8, 2020, Narek Sardarayan, a 30-year-old resident of the village of Nerk'in Khandzoresk, who is married and has two sons and resides with his parents and brother while engaging in livestock farming, went out riding in a pasture near the Spandaryan reservoir and did not return. Several days of search operations yielded no results, and then on July 15, 2020, a video recorded in Nakhchivan was circulated online, where N. Sardarayan answers questions directed at him off-camera, explaining how he surrendered to Azerbaijani soldiers by waving a white cloth and mentioning that he is requesting political asylum from the Azerbaijani authorities or to be handed over to a third country,” Zeynalanyan wrote.