According to the ECtHR Press Release:

"The applicants, Artur Nikoghosyan, Varditer Hovhannisyan, and their children, Mamikon, Elen and Maria Nikoghosyan, are five Armenian nationals who were born in 1967, 1979, 2002, 2003 and 2015 respectively. In November 2016 the family was caught while trying to cross the Polish border illegally. They allegedly tried to lodge a motion for international protection. The case concerns their automatic placement, as asylum-seekers, in detention for six months without an individualised assessment of their particular situation and needs. Relying mainly on Article 5 §§ 1 (right to liberty and security) and 4 (right to have lawfulness of detention decided speedily by a court) of the European Convention on Human Rights, the applicants complain that the conditions of their administrative detention in the guarded centre for aliens were similar to detention on remand and were not suitable for children."

The court found a violation of Article 5 § 1 (f) of the Convention. It held that the detention of the adults and children was not a measure of last resort for which no alternative was available and the fact that minors were being detained called for greater speed and diligence on the part of the authorities.