Mammadli Asmar Afghan,
2nd year LLM student specializing in “European Law”, International Private Law and European
Law Department, Baku State University
E-mail: [email protected]
In the case of Ohanyan and others v. Azerbaijan, the applicants are a married couple, Mr Garik Ohanyan and Ms. Yeraz Ohanyan, their children Kamo, Kristine, Tamara, Syuzanna and Ruzanna and the first applicant’s mother, Ms Amalya Ohanyan, who were used to live in the village of Talish (Talış), situated 3‑4 kilometres away from the line of contact between the “Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh” (the “NKR”; in 2017 renamed the “Republic of Artsakh”) and Azerbaijan.
The cases cited by the applicants as the basis of their complaints were as follows:
- Due to an indiscriminate military assault carried out by the Azerbaijani armed forces, there was a genuine and immediate danger to their lives. As a result of being forcibly displaced from Talish and unable to access their homes, their right to the respect of their family life and home was violated. Their property had been damaged during the shelling, thereby depriving them of the peaceful enjoyment of their property. (Based on this rationale, they invoked Articles 2 and 8 of the Convention, as well as Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention);
- The Azerbaijani Government hadn’t provided any example of a domestic case or opportunity that would have indicated that individuals in their circumstances might seek redress before the Azerbaijani authorities, thus there was no effective remedy easily available to them in Azerbaijan. In previous cases, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Convention of January 22, 1993, on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family, and Criminal Cases was invoked by the Armenian Prosecutor-General, but those authorities had previously declined to answer his requests for legal aid. (Therefore, along with the other provisions invoked Articles 13 and 14 of the Convention were also referred to).
- The facts that were the subject of their complaints fell under the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Azerbaijan, as stipulated in Article 1 of the Convention.