European Court of Human Rights Awards Compensation Due to a Lack of a Political Solution in the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict (December 12, 2017) [1]
On December 12, 2017, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights issued two similar decisions in Chiragov and Others v. Armenia [3] and Sargsyan v. Azerbaijan [4], holding that due to a lack of political solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the applicants should be awarded compensation as just satisfaction in respect of pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage. The cases both concern applicants who were forced to flee their homes in 1992 due to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: Chiragov [5] concerned the complaints by six Azerbaijani refugees that they could not return to their homes and property in the district of Lachin, Azerbaijan, while Sargsyan [6] concerned an Armenian refugee’s complaint that he was denied the right to return to his home in the Shahumyan region of Azerbaijan. In both cases, “the Court the Court observed that the principle of subsidiarity underpinned the system of the European Convention on Human Rights. Thus, Armenia and Azerbaijan had given undertakings prior to their accession to the Council of Europe, committing themselves to the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. . . . Without prejudice to any compensation to be awarded to the applicant as just satisfaction, the effective execution of the principal judgment called for the creation of general measures at national level.” The Court held that Armenia must pay the applicants 5,000 euros for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage to each of the applicants and a total amount of 28,642.87 pounds sterling for costs and expenses, while Azerbaijan must pay the applicant 5,000 euros (EUR) for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and EUR 30,000 in costs and expenses.