ECHR Grand Chamber appearance in Chiragov v Armenia  

This case concerns the forced displacement of the Azeri Kurdish population of Lachin in the province of Nagorny Karabakh when it was captured by Armenian forces in May 1992.

Bryony Poynor is led by Mark Muller QC in this case.

Background

Chiragov and Others v. Armenia

The applicants Elkhan Chiragov, Adishirin Chiragov, Ramiz Gebrayilov, Akif Hasanof, Fekhreddin Pashayev and Qaraca Gabrayilov are six Azerbaijani nationals who were born in 1950, 1947, 1960, 1959, 1956 and 1940 respectively. Mr Gabrayilov is now deceased and his son has continued the application on his father’s behalf. All but Mr Hasanof now live in Baku.

The applicants state that they are Azerbaijani Kurds who lived in the district of Lachin, in Azerbaijan, which forms a corridor less than ten kilometres wide between Nagorno-Karabakh and the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (“the Armenian SSR”). The great majority of Lachin’s population were Kurds and Azeris. Due to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the applicants were forced to flee on 17 May 1992. They have not been able to return to their homes and properties since because of Armenian occupation.

The applicants complain in particular about the loss of their properties in Lachin, as well as various other possessions such as cars, livestock and handmade carpets. They also complain that there is no prospect for them in the foreseeable future to be able to use, sell, bequeath, mortgage or develop their property as the Armenian Government continues to refuse to allow them to return to Lachin. Nor have the Armenian authorities made any attempt to compensate them for their losses or to provide a remedy to persons displaced from the occupied territories. They rely on Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property) and Articles 8 (right to respect for private and family life) and 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the Convention.

Finally, the applicants claim, under Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) in conjunction with all the above Articles, that, if they had been ethnic Armenian and Christian, they would not have been forcibly displaced from their homes by the Armenian-backed Karabakh forces and that their property rights would have been recognised and their complaints investigated.

The application was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 6 April 2005. On 9 March 2010 the Chamber to which the case was assigned relinquished jurisdiction in favour of the Grand Chamber.

[Source: ECHR release 613-27.08.2010 ]

Quick links

> 15/9/10 - KHRP in Brussels and Strasbourg (Kurdish Human Rights Project news item)