13/12/2025
EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS JUDGMENT IN THE PEACE DIALOGUE V. ARMENIA CASE
On 4 December 2025, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) delivered its judgment in the case of Peace Dialogue v. Republic of Armenia (application no. 5497/17), finding that Armenia violated Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to receive and impart information of public interest.
The European Court of Human Rights examined the case under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects freedom of expression, including access to information. In its judgment, the Court reaffirmed several key principles:
🔒Article 10 may entail a right of access to information held by public authorities when such access is instrumental to the effective exercise of freedom of expression, particularly the right to receive and impart information.
🔒The Court emphasized that information requests must meet a public interest test to warrant protection under the Convention. It found that information concerning non-combat deaths in the armed forces clearly met this threshold.
🔒The judgment highlighted the obligation of domestic courts to conduct a thorough proportionality analysis when restricting access to information, particularly where national security is invoked.
🔒The Court stressed that even in national security cases, adequate procedural safeguards must be in place, including some form of adversarial proceedings before an independent body.
🔒Finally, the Court underlined that authorities must provide “relevant and sufficient” reasons for restricting access to information. Blanket refusals, without individualized justification, do not satisfy Convention standards.
On this basis, the Court concluded that Armenia violated Article 10 of the Convention by failing to grant Peace Dialogue access to the requested information.
https://peacedialogue.am/2025/12/13/echr_arm/
