Court says trial in metal cage violated human rights

An Armenian man who was placed in a metal cage while he appealed a non-violent conviction suffered degrading treatment, the European Court of Human Rights ruled yesterday.

The court was hearing the case of the now-deceased Ashot Harutyunyan, who in 2004 appealed against a seven-year sentence for fraud, falsification of documents and tax evasion.

At each of the 12 hearings at the Court of Appeals in the Armenian capital Yerevan, Harutyunyan was placed inside a metal cage, which he found humiliating and a violation of his dignity.

The court in Strasbourg found there was nothing in Mr Harutyunyan's behaviour or personality that could have justified such a security measure as he had no previous convictions and no history of violence.

The "stringent and humiliating measure" violated Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits inhuman or degrading treatment, the court found.

However, the court determined that Mr Harutyunyan had received a fair trial.

"He had two lawyers to assist him and there was nothing to suggest that the metal cage had prevented him from communicating with them or the court," the ruling said.

"Nor did placing the applicant in a metal cage suggest that the Court of Appeal had presumed the applicant to be guilty, the cage having been a permanent security measure used in all criminal cases examined there."

Armenia, which can appeal against the decision, was ordered to pay Mr Harutyunyan's daughter €16,000 in damages. Mr Harutyunyan died of a heart attack in prison in January 2009.