In January 2024, the “Civil Pact” party, after the FOICA appealed to the court, asked to sign a settlement agreement and provided the requested information on pre-election fundraising.
On August 23, 2023, FOICA submitted an information request to the “Civil Contract” party, seeking details about donors who contributed funds during the party’s fundraising event preceding the Yerevan Council of Elders elections. The request also encompassed information on donors who exceeded the limit set by Article 24, Part 2 of the Constitutional Law on Political Parties, and details on the refund of such donations.
The origin of FOICA inquiry is traced back to a request by the “infocom.am” news site from the “Information Committee,” an informational non-governmental organization. Despite the absence of an official response from the party, including the requested information, the journalist turned to the Freedom of Information Center (FOICA), seeking assistance in obtaining the relevant information.
Unfortunately, the “Civil Contract” party failed to respond to both the initial and subsequent information requests made by FOICA, thereby infringing upon FOICA’s right to access information. On December 4, 2023, the Freedom of Information Center of Armenia (FOICA) initiated legal proceedings by filing a lawsuit to compel the “Civil Contract” party to disclose information.
The case was assigned to Judge Kima Arzumanyan of the Yerevan Civil Court. On December 14, 2023, the Civil Court of First Instance of Yerevan accepted the claim for proceedings (court case N: ED2/41477/02/23), marking a significant step in the legal pursuit of information disclosure. Case reference in “DataԼex” judicial information system.
On January 8, 2023, at the suggestion of the “Civil Agreement” party, a settlement agreement was signed between the parties, according to which the party undertook to provide the information requested by the claim and to compensate the state duty paid by FOICA in the amount determined by the RA Law “On State Duty”. On January 12, 2023, the “Civil Contract” party submitted the requested information to the FOICA. The answer to the request can be found here.
The court decided to approve the settlement agreement. It deemed the matter of court costs as resolved and concluded the proceedings based on the affirmation of the settlement agreement between the parties. The court’s decision was published on January 16, 2024.
The court claim FOICA vs. “Civil Contract” Party
