Public figure Hovhannes Ishkhanyan has rejected the European Court of Human Rights' (ECHR) ruling in his favor and the nearly €6,000 compensation. He announced his decision on his Facebook page.

The ECHR ruling confirmed that his rights to liberty and peaceful assembly were violated during the 2015 protests against electricity price hikes. The court had ordered the Armenian government to compensate him with approximately €6,000.

However, Ishkhanyan declared that, despite the ECHR’s efforts, he does not accept the ruling or the compensation. He explained his reasons for rejecting them.

"I refuse the ECHR ruling and compensation because the European community has contributed to strengthening an authoritarian system that erodes judicial independence in Armenia and to handing over democratic Artsakh to authoritarian Azerbaijan.

My refusal is an act of solidarity—with the principle of judicial independence, European values of human rights and democracy, judges who uphold these principles, and democratic Artsakh," he wrote.

Ishkhanyan delivered his statement in English.

On February 13, it became known that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled the 2015 dispersal of the "Electric Yerevan" protest and the detention of activist Hovhannes Ishkhanyan to be unlawful.