Armenian Institute for Development together with its project partners, i.e. Netherlands Helsinki Committee (NHC) and the International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights (Interights) has organized training on specific topic for advocates and lawyers of Armenia. This training was organized within  the framework of the programme of “Strategic litigation in Caucasus” which is financed by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The training  took place on 7th and 8th of July, 2007 in Yerevan at the premises of Armenia Marriott hotel.

Armenian Institute for Development have made corresponding announcement among seventeen advocates from which only fourteen showed up during the event. For the venue there were invited one local (Hrayr Ghukasyan, the lecturer of the law faculty of Yerevan State University, chair of criminal procedure and criminology) and two international experts (Dina Vedernikova, Interights and Karinna Moskalenko, the Centre of International Protection). Kirsten Wiemers represented Netherlands Helsinki Committee during the event. There was also invited special guest from Open Society Institute, David Amiryan. Prior to the venue there were distributed corresponding content materials for participants.

Having in mind that most of the complaints submitted from Armenia to the European Court of Human Rights allege the violation of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, partner organizations decided to choose the main topic of the training to be Article 6 of ECHR. Hrayr Ghukasyan and Karinna Moskalenko have presented the topic of Article 6. The presentation of Hrayr Ghukasyan encompassed three parts, to be more exact: a) interrelation of the Criminal procedural legislation of RA with Article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights, b) presumption of innocence and the peculiarities of the protection of the latter in the light of the Criminal procedural legislation of RA and c) the right of defense of accused (defendant) and its protection according to Criminal procedural legislation of RA.

During her first day presentation Karinna Moskalenko has stopped over general guarantees that Article 6 of the the European Convention on Human Rights ensures. She has mentioned both theoretical and practical aspects of the guarantees ensured. For the second day of the training Karinna Moskalenko made the presentation on minimal standards of fair trial ensured by Article 6 of ECHR, as well as on the position of Article 6 in the general system of norms of ECHR and its interrelation with other norms of the Convention. You can download material of the presentation of Karinna Moskalenko on Article 6 of ECHR in Russian.

Together with the main topic of the training (Article 6 of ECHR) Dina Vedernikova has presented changes to ECHR according to Protocol 14 and the procedure of awarding just satisfaction claims by the European Court of Human Rights. You can download Practice Direction on just satisfaction claims in English or Armenian.

At the end of the meeting the participants had opportunity to ask questions to experts on various aspects of the European Convention of Human Right and its case law.