Relatives of Helen Dadayan Appeal to ECHR: Lawyer Comments on the Process

The relatives of 21-year-old Helen Dadayan, who died in a tragic car accident on the Gyumri-Yerevan highway on August 14, have urgently applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to facilitate the transfer of her body to Artsakh. This information was shared with Sputnik Armenia by the family representative, Siranuhi Sahakyan.

"This means that if the court grants the application, it will initially request information from Azerbaijan regarding potential obstacles and assessments related to the transfer of the body. Secondly, it may also demand that Azerbaijan ensure the transfer of the body to the Republic of Artsakh," Sahakyan stated.

According to the media outlet, she noted that initially, the Armenian government took certain steps to ensure the transfer of Helen Dadayan’s body to the Republic of Artsakh through the ECHR, but no positive outcome has been achieved.

“During the wartime process, the ECHR also did not get involved in the repatriation of bodies, rejecting requests on the grounds that they fall outside the permissible scope of the court's mandate and do not relate to the rights that the court enforces, specifically the right to life,” she reported.

Sahakyan further emphasized that the court acknowledges that there is a violation of the family's right to privacy, as they are deprived of the opportunity to bury the body. However, she cautioned that a positive outcome is not guaranteed. She mentioned that this process has particularities, as Azerbaijan is imposing political demands for the protection of citizens' rights.

“Specifically, they are demanding documents where the place names should not be mentioned in Armenian but in Azerbaijani terms, or where instead of the Republic of Artsakh, it should state the Republic of Azerbaijan. Political questions of an interstate nature are being leveraged, placing an additional burden on the citizen to provide documents that are purely political and not related to the realization of human rights,” she said during her conversation with the media.

It should be noted that around 00:20 on August 14, a passenger microbus branded "Volkswagen" collided with a truck driven by a 33-year-old named H.P. in the administrative area of Lanjik village. The accident resulted in the death of 12 individuals, one of whom was Helen Dadayan, who has parents in Artsakh and wishes to transfer and bury their daughter’s body.