The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) announced the verdict in the case of Ter-Petrosyan v. Armenia on 25 April. The ECHR ruled, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the European Convention on Human Rights, and a violation of Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) in conjunction with Article 11. Complaints under Article 5 § 1 (right to liberty and security) and Article 2 of Protocol No. 4 (freedom of movement) were rejected as manifestly ill-founded.

The former Armenian President, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, and his supporters rejected the official results of the February 2008 presidential election, which gave victory to Serzh Sargsyan, as fraudulent. Security forces dispersed Ter-Petrosyan’s protest camp on Liberty Square early on March 1, 2008. He was forced from the sqaure and put into a car before he was taken to his Yerevan residence. Thousands of his supporters barricaded themselves elsewhere in the city center later that day. Eight protesters and two police officers were killed in ensuing violent clashes that broke out. Citing the deadly violence, the outgoing President, Robert Kocharian, declared a three-week state of emergency in the Armenian capital. Today, Kocharian is in custody. He is accused of overthrowing the constitutional order.

Ter-Petrosyan appealed to the ECHR in August 2008, saying that security forces breached his and his supporters’ freedom of assembly and illegally deprived him of his liberty. The Court dismissed the Government's allegations that the early morning rallies on March 1, 2008 were not peaceful. The Court similarly found the former president's complaint that his home arrest during the turmoil was politically motivated inadmissible.

Vahe Grigorian, the lawyer who had lodged Ter-Petrosyan’s appeal to Strasbourg, welcomed the ECHR ruling. He said, that the judgement represents further proof that the use of force against protesters that camped on Liberty Square was “totally unconstitutional and illegal.”