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The European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) issued the case verdict on Zalyan and Others v. Armenia (nos. 36894/04 and 3521/07).

The three citizens of Armenia, Arayik Zalyan, Razmik Sargsyan, and Musa Serobyan, soldiers of one of the military unit of Mataghis, were charged for murdering fellow soldiers Hovsep Mkrtumyan and Roman Yeghiazaryan.

The Court concluded that no violations of Article 3 of European Convention (torture prohibition) took place, rather some procedural violations of the same article. According to the Court, no right for proper medical care was violated, yet there was a violation of the right to liberty (Article 5, EC) when Zalyan was arrested on April 21-24 until November 24, 2004.

ECHR decided that Armenian government should pay the plaintiffs a compensation of EUR 50k.
In their application to the ECHR, they claimed that they were unlawfully deprived of their liberty on April 19-23. It was also mentioned that their applications regarding torture were never really examined. Zalyan also stated that when on a hunger strike he was denied the right to meet with his relatives and wasn’t provided with necessary medical assistance.

Ad hoc judge Siranush Sahakyan presented a special opinion attached to the verdict.