The Decision to Revoke the Right to Drive a Vehicle Was Annulled
- 2023-05-05
The "Road Police" service of the Republic of Armenia’s Police revoked A. S.'s right to drive a vehicle for one year, citing the deliberate failure to comply with the police officer's lawful order to stop the vehicle. In this case, the only evidence provided by the administrative body to confirm the violation was the protocol, in which the citizen had already expressed disagreement with the alleged act.
In this case, the contested administrative act lacked evidence regarding the police officer’s lawful order to stop the vehicle as prescribed by law. Moreover, it was unclear on what grounds the traffic police officer had presented the demand to stop the vehicle, and whether such a demand had been made at all. At the same time, there was an absence of evidence that could establish the intentional nature of the alleged violation.
Given the above, we requested the suspension of the enforcement of the administrative act until the final judicial decision on the case had entered into legal force. The court, considering the request as justified, fairly granted it.
The Republic of Armenia’s Administrative Court of Appeal rejected the appeal filed by the Service against the aforementioned request, noting that in this situation, priority should be given to ensuring the protection of the claimant's rights.
Thus, the Service was unable to provide sufficient evidence (for example, a video recording from a monitoring camera showing the alleged violation) that would irrefutably confirm that the claimant had failed to stop the vehicle upon the police officer's demand. In other words, the fact remained unproven.
In light of the above, the Court concluded that the claimant had been unjustly held responsible by the contested decision, as the alleged administrative violation attributed to the claimant was not established, and therefore, the claim was fully granted.
Note:
The decision of the Administrative Court of the Republic of Armenia in case No. VD/5737/05/22 has entered into legal force.