On August 30, 2021 the Freedom of Information Center of Armenia (FOICA) applied to the Human Rights Defender asking for assistance in restoring the violated right of information. On November 1, 2021 the FOICA applied to the Administrative Court of the Republic of Armenia with a claim to obligate Yerevan Municipality to provide requested information concerning Yerevan, Silikyan old highway 60/1 address.
Appeal to the Human Rights Defender
The Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia confirmed the violation of the Freedom of Information Center’s right to receive information by the Yerevan Municipality.
On August 30, 2021, FOICA applied to the Human Rights Defender asking for assistance in restoring the violated right of information by Yerevan Municipality (complaint num. 1/8619-21). For three months, starting from August, 2021 FOICA has been trying to get information from the Municipality about activities of an illegally exploited stone factory and seizure of the land of the community. Several requests and even complaints submitted to the Municipality were not properly processed.
As a result of the proceedings, the Ombudsman decided:
- The Human Rights Defender considers principal the provision of the answers to the requests for information in complete, quality way, within deadlines, as well as to provide the bases of denials and, in general, the attitude of public bodies towards those inquiries.
- Aforementioned approach by public authorities may form a practice leading to the risk of continuing to provide incomplete information or refusing to provide information in general.
- Therefore, every State or local authority body is obliged to respond responsibly to requests for information, to ensure its complete and proper provision, which will guarantee the proper exercise of the right to receive information enshrined in the Constitution, laws and international documents.
- As for the issue of illegal land use, it is necessary to refer to Article 59, Part 1, Clause 1 of the Law Of The Republic of Armenia on Local Self-Government according to which the Mayor organizes the suspension and elimination of illegal land use by heads of administrative districts.
- Thus, after the above-mentioned legal regulation, suspension and elimination of illegal land use in the city of Yerevan is the responsibility of the Mayor of Yerevan, so the answer of Shushan Doydoyan’s request is also in the competence of the Municipality of Yerevan.
- The Defender states that by not providing a proper, complete response to the Freedom of Information Center NGO President Shushan Doydoyan’s requests, the Yerevan Municipality violated her right to receive information stated by the RA Constitution, the RA Law on Freedom of Information, and international documents.
- By the same decision, the Defender proposed to the Yerevan Municipality to provide proper and complete information to the requests discussed within the framework of the given decision.
The last trial took place on May 19, 2022, at 11:40 p.m. The court will announce the verdict in 2022 on June 9, at 2:30 p.m.
It should be noted that the representative of the Municipality did not participate in the trial.
The Ombudsman Decision (Armenian)
Lawsuit to the Administrative Court of the Republic of Armenia
On November 1, 2021, FOICA appealed to the Administrative Court with a request to obligate Yerevan Municipality to provide a comprehensive response to the inquiry as mentioned above.
On June 9, 2022, the RA Administrative Court upheld
the Freedom of Information Center’s lawsuit against the Yerevan Municipality for violating the right to freedom of information.
The court obliged the Municipality of Yerevan to provide the following information to the Freedom of Information Center in accordance with the legislation. does the operator of the stone factory (MIKAYEL GHAZARYAN SERGEY Private Entrepreneur) have a contract for legal use or lease of community land with the municipality or the municipality of Ajapnyak, or did he simply seize the land belonging to the community?
At the same time, the court decided to confiscate 10,000 (ten thousand) AMD from the Yerevan Municipality in favor of the Freedom of Information Center as a pre-paid state fee.
It should be noted that this is the 60th court case initiated by the FOICA, which is aimed at restoring the violated constitutional right to receive information.
