The European Court of Human Rights has made a judgment on the case “Tovmasyan v. Armenia” in favor of the applicant
According to the facts of the case, the applicant Rehan Tovmasyan was born in 1948. On 10 October 1991 the Republic of Armenia Executive Committee of the Mashtots District Council of People’s Deputies decided to allocate a flat to the applicant in a building in Yerevan.
The building was to be constructed by KanazAluminiumFactory (KanAZ).
The foundation of the future building was laid but, as the Soviet Union collapsed, the construction of the building was stopped because the Factory went bankrupt. Rehan Tovmasyan lodged a request with the commission seeking to be allocated a flat or to receive money equivalent to its value. She applied to all domestic instances and lost. The District Court dismissed the applicant’s claim on the grounds that the Factory had been declared bankrupt and had no legal successor as such. The Civil Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant’s appeal and upheld the judgment of the District Court. The applicant did not lodge an appeal on points of law with the Court of Cassation. She alleges that she was unable to do so as she did not have funds and could not afford to hire an advocate. She further claims that she applied to many lawyers with a request to provide her with free legal services but with no result.
Based on this fact, the ECHR ruled that the person’s right to judicial protection was violated, and obligated the state to pay 3,600 EUROs to the claimant.
As for the housing problem, the Court left this issue without examination.
