YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 24, ARMENPRESS: At the moment the European Court of Human Rights has got more than 1000 unexamined applications against the Republic of Armenia, the major part of which – about 600 – has been submitted by Azerbaijanis, who raise against Armenia the issues of their property rights in the liberated territories. The advocate, representing Armenia in the European Court of Human Rights, Alvina Gyulumyan told Armenpress that the Azerbaijani Armenians have submitted nearly the same amount of applications, demanding for moral and financial compensation from Azerbaijan for the suffered hardships and deportations. Gyulumyan did not state how the cases are proceeded, adding that the major part of the cases are in the stage of discussion and that she, as an advocate, cannot express her opinion on them.

In general, the European Court of Human Rights gets about 200 applications against Armenia. The applications, got from the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, have different content. According to Gyulumyan, the applications are grounded and there are no evident unacceptable complaints. The applications on failing to pass to military service due to religious affiliation are decreasing. At the moment there are three such cases in the European Court of Human Rights. The Armenian advocate noted that in this case Armenia does not lose. The thing is that the position of the country does not correspond to the position of the Council of Europe.

The European Court of Human Rights is an international court set up in 1959. It rules on individual or State applications alleging violations of the civil and political rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights. Since 1998 it has sat as a full-time court and individuals can apply to it directly. In almost fifty years the Court has delivered more than 10,000 judgments. These are binding on the countries concerned and have led governments to alter their legislation and administrative practice in a wide range of areas. The Court’s case-law makes the Convention a powerful living instrument for meeting new challenges and consolidating the rule of law and democracy in Europe. The Court is based in Strasbourg, in the Human Rights Building designed by the British architect Lord Richard Rogers in 1994 – a building whose image is known worldwide. From here, the Court monitors respect for the human rights of 800 million Europeans in the 47 Council of Europe member States that have ratified the Convention.

Since April 2 2003 Armenia was represented in the European Court of Human Rights by Alvina Gyulumyan. Before that she was the member of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia.