issued by the Registrar of the Court
ECHR 252 (2024)
29.10.2024
Judgments of 29 October 2024
The European Court of Human Rights has today notified in writing one Chamber judgment1 which is
summarised below.
The judgment is available only in English.
Harutyun Karapetyan v. Armenia (application no. 53081/14)
The applicant, Harutyun Karapetyan, is an Armenian national who was born in 1957 and lives in
Abovyan (Armenia).
The case concerns the investigation into the death of Mr Karapetyan’s wife in 2011, the day after she
had a hysterectomy. The autopsy concluded that the cause of death was pulmonary
thromboembolism because of varicose veins on her legs. The investigating authorities terminated the
criminal proceedings in 2013, finding in particular that there had been no contraindications for the
surgery and that precautions had been taken beforehand, such as compression of the veins with
elastic bandages and an anticoagulant injection. Mr Karapetyan unsuccessfully contested the decision
in the courts.
Relying on Article 2 (right to life/investigation) of the European Convention on Human Rights,
Mr Karapetyan alleges that his wife died due to medical negligence. He maintains in particular that his
wife should only have been operated on after treatment for her varicose veins.
No violation of Article 2 (investigation)
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1
Under Articles 43 and 44 of the Convention, Chamber judgments are not final. During the three-month period following a Chamber
judgment’s delivery, any party may request that the case be referred to the Grand Chamber of the Court. If such a request is made, a panel
of five judges considers whether the case deserves further examination. In that event, the Grand Chamber will hear the case and deliver a
final judgment. If the referral request is refused, the Chamber judgment will become final on that day. Under Article 28 of the Convention,
judgments delivered by a Committee are final.
Once a judgment becomes final, it is transmitted to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for supervision of its execution.
Further information about the execution process can be found here: www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/execution
The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe member
States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights.
2