How Much Compensation Has Been Paid to Citizens in Court Cases Concerning 'Red Lines' Over the Past 2 Years

On average, 680 appeals are filed annually against the Yerevan Municipality regarding disputes over paid parking areas (red lines). The Administrative Court predominantly resolves these disputes in favor of citizens by issuing verdicts against the Yerevan Municipality. As a result, not only are the fines annulled, but the municipality is also obligated to compensate the citizen's legal costs in lost cases. This information is reported by Hetq.

As of February 2, 2024, the Yerevan Municipality has recovered approximately 795,000 AMD in cases related to 'red lines' for the state duty and attorney fees paid by citizens in courts. In the years 2022-2023, 16,111,000 AMD has been collected from the municipality through court proceedings for the same purpose. Typically, the Administrative Court sets the attorney fee at around 10,000 AMD for these cases.

The basis of citizens’ applications mainly stems from their surprise upon receiving notifications from the municipality about proceedings for parking in a paid parking area without payment. They argue that the area was not marked in red as required, nor was there appropriate signage indicating the amount, conditions, and responsibilities regarding the payment for the paid parking area in clear and readable Armenian.

In these circumstances, the municipality could not initiate proceedings or impose fines, and citizens could not pay, as they had no way of knowing that they had parked in a paid area. There are places where red markings on the asphalt have faded or are difficult to discern, yet the municipality considers them appropriate and fines citizens for not making parking payments.

Citizens are challenging fine decisions and winning in court. The Yerevan Municipality bases the initiation of administrative proceedings on videos recorded by surveillance cameras. In rulings made in favor of citizens, courts establish that the relevant street sections depicted in these videos lack proper markings and informational signage for paid parking. Therefore, at least at the moment of recording, it is not possible to accept the area as an organized paid parking area by the community council, and thus parking a vehicle in that area for 15 minutes or more cannot be deemed an act under the Administrative Offenses Code of the Republic of Armenia.

It is worth noting that no local fee is charged for parking a vehicle for up to 15 minutes, while for parking over 15 minutes, the set fee for one hour must be paid in advance within the 15 minutes following parking.

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