Mirzoyan v. Armenia (application no. 57129/10)

The case concerned the killing of the applicant’s son while he had been on military service.

The applicant, Robert Mirzoyan, is an Armenian national who was born in 1954 and lives in Marmarashen village (Armenia).

The applicant’s son, Gegham Sergoyan, was performing his compulsory military service in the unrecognised Republic of Nagorno Karabakh when he was shot in the head by one of his officers inApril 2007. He died without regaining consciousness in May of the same year.

The officer, who had had reprimands from his superiors in the past, admitted the shooting and wassentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment in 2009. The trial court rejected a civil claim for compensationfrom the State which the applicant had lodged during the proceedings, finding that domestic law didnot provide for compensation for non-pecuniary damage.

Appeals by the applicant to both the Court of Appeal and the Court of Cassation were unsuccessful.

He cited in particular the rights on compensation flowing from the Convention, which he argued had to prevail over domestic law by virtue of Article 6 of the Constitution of Armenia.

Relying on Article 2 (right to life) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the EuropeanConvention on Human Rights, the applicant complained that the State authorities had failed toprotect his son’s right to life and that his claim against the State for non-pecuniary damage suffered as a result of that loss had been dismissed.