An Armenian who alleges that police torture led to the removal of his testicle will find out next week if judges back his complaint.
The European Court of Human Rights is scheduled to reveal its decision in the case Virabyan v. Armenia (no. 40094/05) on 2 October.
The applicant, Grisha Virabyan, is an Armenian national who was born in 1958 and lives in Shahumyan Village (Armenia).
He was a member of the main opposition party in Armenia, the People’s Party of Armenia. The case concerns his allegation that he was tortured in police custody in April 2004 following his arrest on suspicion of carrying a firearm at a rally organised by the opposition parties in Yerevan.
In particular, he alleges that he was repeatedly kicked and punched in the groin during his custody and, as a result, his left testicle had to be removed. He further complains that the investigation into his allegations of torture was ineffective and that his ill-treatment was politically motivated.
Virabyan relies on Article 3 (prohibition of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment) and Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination). Further relying on Article 6 § 2 (presumption of innocence), he also complains that criminal proceedings brought against him for attacking a public official during his police custody were terminated in August 2004 notably on the ground that he had also suffered during the incident and that this had “atoned for his guilt.”
