On March 21, 2006, the First Instance court of Armavir City fully satisfied FOICA’s claim against; Armavir municipality obliging to provide the requested information and pay FOICA’s charges.
On September 14, 2005, FOICA submitted an information request to the mayor of Armavir Mr. Ruben Khlghatyan asking to provide the following information:
- Copies of all the decisions made by the Armavir Elders Council during the second quarter of 2005;
- Copy of the 2005 budget and its implementation report for the second quarter (April-May-June).
In reply to the information request on September 20, 2005, Mr. Khlghatyan sent a note that said: “To receive copies of documents mentioned in the inquiry you have to send the copy of your NGO’s statutes and pay for the service following the order fixed by the elders council.”On January 11, 2006, FOICA sent the second information request to Mr. Khlghatyan requesting to provide the abovementioned information and reminded the mayor that his requirement to provide the NGO’s status is illegal. In the meantime, the FOIC mentioned that the NGO was ready to pay for the copying starting from the 11th page according to the 10th article of RA law on Freedom of Information. The second inquiry was not replied to. The mayor informed that the requested information would be provided only after he meets with FOICA President Shushan Doydoyan to find out who is the requestor and the aims of the inquiry. According to the 4th point of article 9 of “Freedom of Information Law,” the requestor is not obliged to justify his/her information request.
On February 13 FOIC applied to the first instance court of Armavir region because of the violation of the right access to information.
The first and the second court hearings were postponed because of the absence of the municipality representative. During the third court hearing, the court fully satisfied the claim.
