On November 12, 2011, the “Freedom of Information Center” NGO sent an information request to the director of the “Ashtarak kat” CJSC Stepan Aslanyan asking to provide the following information:
1. Are Your milk products produced by natural or not natural milk?
2. Please provide a list of which milk product of your company is from a natural milk, which is not, and/or provide an information on the quantity of natural milk in each milk product.
As this information request remained unanswered on December 6, 2011, the Freedom of Information Center sent the second information request to the “Ashtarak kat” CJSC asking to provide the abovementioned information.
The FOICA’s second information request also was left unanswered.
Thus, on December 19, 2011, the FOICA applied to the RA Administrative Court asking to obligate the “Ashtarak kat” CJSC providing the requested information and imposing an administrative penalty on the director of the company Stepan Aslanyan.
On January 12, 2012, after the FOICA’s claim was filed to the court, a response of the “Ashtarak Kat” CJSC was received, where it was mentioned, that the company responded to the FOICA’s first the request, but the response didn’t reach the addressee and was retuerned to the “Ashtarak Kat” CJSC. The “Ashtarak Kat” CJSC presented the copy of the response to the FOICA’s first request attached.
On January 23, 2012, the RA Administrative Court made a decision to reject the adoption of the FOICA’s lawsuit finding that the claim is not a subject to the Administrative Court.
On February 6, 2012, the FOICA appealed the Administrative Court’s decision. On March 5, 2012, the RA Administrative Court of Appeal satisfied the FOICA’s claim partially. The Court satisfied the FOICA’s demand to imposing an administrative penalty on the director of the company Stepan Aslanyan and rejected the demand to obligate the “Ashtarak kat” CJSC providing the requested information.
The RA Administrative Court adopted the FOICA’s lawsuit against the “Ashtarak Kat” CJSC. The first court hearing which took take place on August 7, 2012, was postponed. The next court hearing took place on October 4, 2012. The case went to the trial phase. The next court hearing took place on November 16, 2012, where the trial phase of the case was over, and the day of publication of the court decision was dated on December 5, 2012. But the publication of the court’s decision was postponed several times to January 23, 2013, after to March 5, 2013. But on March 5, 2013 the publication of the court’s decision was postponed again. The court published its decision on March 26, 2013, by which fully rejected the FOICA’s claim.
On June 10, 2013, the FOICA appeald the RA Administrative Court’s decision to the RA Administrative Court of Appeals. On December 23, 2013, the RA Court of Appeal published its decision, by which denied the FOICA’s appeal. On January 22, 2014 the Freedom of Information Center appealed the RA Courts of Appeal’s decision to the RA Court of Cassation. The Court of Cassation refused the FOICA’s appeal.
