CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 11 octobre 2007

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s40F41F73 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .s83BE5C30 { font-family:Arial; font-size:8pt; vertical-align:super } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s3DC36BA9 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline; color:#0069d6 } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .sC7EAD8B { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:underline } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS     10.10.2007   Press release issued by the Registrar   The Court’s President pays tribute to the work of ombudsmen   While on an official visit to Armenia the President of the European Court of Human Rights, Mr Jean-Paul Costa, highlighted the importance of the institution of ombudsman and of the European Court’s cooperation with ombudsmen and with constitutional courts.   “The activities of ombudsmen contribute to the construction of a State governed by the rule of law, not least because, like the Court, they strive to promote genuine equality of arms by placing a neutral, impartial intermediary between the citizen and the authorities. Those values of neutrality and impartiality are precisely what our Court seeks to uphold and are at the very heart of our case-law” said President Costa, speaking at the 12 th Yerevan International Conference on “International experience of the cooperation between constitutional courts and Ombudsmen in the field of ensuring and protection of human rights” organised by, among others, the Armenian Constitutional Court and the Venice Commission (European Commission for Democracy through Law of the Council of Europe).   President Costa paid an official visit to Armenia from 4 to 7 October 2007, accompanied by a delegation from the Court made up of Mrs Alvina Gyulumyan, the judge elected in respect of Armenia, and Mr Vincent Berger, Jurisconsult. He had meetings with, among others, the Armenian President, Mr Robert Kocharyan, the Prime Minister, Mr Serzh Sargsyan, the President of the Constitutional Court, Mr   Gagik Harutyunyan and the Ombudsman, Mr Armen Harutyunyan.   ***   Further information about the Court can be found on its Internet site ( http://www.echr.coe.int ).     Press contacts Stéphanie Klein (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 88 41 21 54) Tracey Turner-Tretz (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 88 41 35 30) Paramy Chanthalangsy (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 54 91)   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