European Court already took decision on Nikol
"I believe that the European Court of Human Rights will reach a verdict favoring Nikol Pashinyan," former OSCE Freedom of Media Representative Miklosh Harashti told "A1+" in Budapest. What serves as grounds for him to say this is the fact that the European Court of Human Rights has ruled to hear the case of the imprisoned editor-in-chief of "Haykakan Zhamanak" daily newspaper through a accelerated procedure.
"This means that the court believes the case is that urgent," said Mr. Harashti.
Harashti notes that the court doesn't always take decisions to hear cases through such a procedure. The media expert says the hearing of Nikol Pashinyan's case will be as quick as the case of Azerbaijani journalist Elmar Fatulayev, who was sentenced to prison for 8.5 years under the charge of terrorism.
Last April, the European Court concluded that the decision to sentence Fatulayev was illegitimate, that he had to be released immediately and paid a compensation of 25,000 Euros (but the Azerbaijani government still hasn't fulfilled that demand).
"As a rule, when the European Court takes such a decision, it means that they see the essence of the case as positive," said Miklosh Harashti.
Let us remind that Nikol Pashinyan, who was sentenced after the events of 1 March 2008, has already filed three lawsuits with facts that his rights had been violated.
