Published on 26 September 2022

FOURTH SECTION

Application no. 54948/17 Vahan SHIRKHANYAN against Armenia lodged on 17 July 2017 communicated on 9 September 2022

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

On 24 November 2016 the trial court, upon an application by the prosecution, imposed a ban on the visits and telephone communications of the applicant who was an accused and was detained in a criminal case. The court noted that the evidence in the case pending before it had not yet been examined, whereas the investigation in another criminal case, which was linked to the applicant’s, was still pending. It therefore considered the requested measure justified given the necessity to ensure the implementation of future investigative measures in the latter case and that the visits and telephone communications of the accused could hamper establishing the objective truth in “the case”. The applicant appealed against this decision arguing that the ban was unlawful because, under the domestic law, the trial court could impose such a measure only in the interests of the criminal case before it. Also, the impugned measure was not justified. His appeals were dismissed by the higher judicial instances, with the final decision taken on 28 April 2017.

QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES

Has there been a violation of the applicant’s right to respect for his private and family life and correspondence, contrary to Article 8 of the Convention? In particular, was the interference prescribed by law and necessary in terms of that Article (see Khoroshenko v. Russia [GC], no. 41418/04, §§ 106, 110 and 116-19, ECHR 2015; Lebois v. Bulgaria , no. 67482/14, §§ 61-65, 19 October 2017; and Danilevich v. Russia , no. 31469/08, §§ 45 and 48-50, 19 October 2021)?