The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in its judgment of June 11, 2026 found a violation of Article 5 Point 1 (right to liberty and security of person) of the European Convention in the cases of Ashghyan and Poghosyan v. Armenia (applications Nos. 5293/16 and 5295/16), finding that the applicants’ deprivation of liberty had been unlawful.

The case concerns two citizens, Abraham Ashghyan and Narine Poghosyan, who were detained by the police in Armenia on June 23, 2015 during the peaceful ‘Electric Yerevan’ protest. The court found they were deprived of their liberty without reasonable suspicion of having committed any crime. The ECHR reiterated that Article 5 of the Convention requires that any deprivation of liberty be free from arbitrariness and strictly in accordance with the letter of the law.

Referring to its case-law (in particular, the case of Ishkhanyan v. Armenia), the Court concluded that the applicants’ arrests were not based on “reasonable suspicion”,  the main prerequisite for the requirements of Article 5 of the Convention.

The ECHR ordered the Republic of Armenia to pay each applicant:

–2,000 euros in compensation for non-pecuniary (moral) damage,

–250 euros in compensation for legal and other costs and expenses.

(The term ‘Electric Yerevan’ refers to the massive 2015 protests in the Armenian capital against proposed electricity rate hikes.)

Photo by Narek Aleksanyan/ 26.06. 2015