On March 12 in Gyumri at the court of primary jurisdiction of Shirak region
the hearing on the suit of “Asparez” Journalist’s Club of Gyumri versus the
administration of Lusaghbyur regional community completed. As reported, on January
25, 2007 “Asparez” filed 9 identical suits versus the administrations of 9 regional
communities (Azatan, Amasia, Ardenis, Voghji, Mets Sepasar, Pokr Sepasar, Shirak,
Horom and Lusaghbyur) demanding to restore its right to information. The reason
for the litigation were the refusals of the heads of these communities to provide
“Asparez” with copies of its budgets for 2006 and the resolutions of the Councils
of Senior Citizens, adopted from January 1, 2005 till September 30, 2006. On
February 22 in Akhurian and on February 28 in Artik the courts of primary jurisdiction
of Shirak region made decisions in favor of “Asparez” on 8 suits. Hearing on
the case versus the administration of Lusaghbyur started on February 28, and
the next day, on March 1, the respondent provided the information requested
to “Asparez” (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, February
23 – March 1, 2007).
At the session of March 12 the court confirmed the reconciliation agreement
signed between the parties, according to which the administration of Lusaghbyur
community committed to compensating the state duty that “Asparez” had paid for
filing the suit.
As YPC was told by the Chairman of the Board of “Asparez” Levon Barseghian,
out of all 119 communities of Shirak region, to which in October 2006 the journalistic
organization had addressed the written inquires above, as of today 73 communities
have provided the information in full, 10 – in part. According to Levon Barseghian,
“Asparez” intends to sue the remaining 36 regional administrations that have
failed to answer the inquiries.
