On November 25 the RA Court of Cassation left the decision of the Court of Appeals on the suit of “Investigative Journalists” NGO versus Republic of Armenia unchanged. As it has been reported, in late May the court of primary jurisdiction of Center and Nork-Marash communities of Yerevan ruled to secure the suit of the NGO on the compensation of court losses and other expenditures of 308,000 AMD (about $ 680), incurred during the lengthy litigation against the Yerevan municipality (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, May 20-26, 2005). The RA Ministry of Finance and Economy, on which the obligation to compensate the expenses of the plaintiff was placed, challenged the ruling with the Courts of Appeals and Cassation. The latter two, on their behalf, resolved that monetary compensation should be paid.
The litigation against the Yerevan administration started over a year ago (April 14, 2004) and was related to the refusal to provide the resolutions, necessary for the journalistic investigation. The documents requested were adopted by the municipality in 1997-2003 and referred to the construction in the public green zone around the National Opera and Ballet Theater. Courts of primary and secondary jurisdiction rejected this claim, the court of supreme jurisdiction directed the case for repeated consideration of the Court of Appeals (in new composition), which secured the claim. Then the municipality challenged the ruling made, however, on February 10, 2005, the Court of Cassation left it unchanged. Despite the ruling, the city authorities did not provide the documents, and “Investigative Journalists” addressed the RA Compulsory Execution Service. As YPC was told by the Chairman of “Investigative Journalists” Edik Baghdasarian, the issue is to be solved in the nearest future.
