Armenia · Yerevan
The dispersal of Freedom Square
Police cleared Yerevan’s Freedom Square on 1 March 2008 after protests over the presidential election.
Timeline
- 1 March 2008: Police disperse the Freedom Square protest.
- October 2008: A domestic court convicts Saghatelyan.
- 2018: The European court finds ill-treatment, an unfair trial and a failure to investigate.
What the court documented
In Mushegh Saghatelyan v. Armenia, the European Court of Human Rights found that the applicant’s injuries resulted from ill-treatment. It found that the authorities had never specifically investigated his allegations of police brutality.
Case outcomes
Armenian courts convicted Saghatelyan of assaulting officers and carrying a knife. The European court found that his trial was unfair and that ending the peaceful assembly was disproportionate. A separate ruling in Dareskizb examined the state of emergency and press restrictions imposed later that day. European Court of Human Rights · Saghatelyan