On October 25, at the court of primary jurisdiction of Shirak Region of Armenia the second session on the suit on the rehabilitation and protection of the rights of citizens and journalists to information was held. The suit had been filed by the Chairman of the Board of “Asparez” Journalists’ Club Levon Barseghian and the Correspondent of “Iravunk” newspaper in the Shirak region Gagik Nikoghosian. As it has been reported, the co-plaintiffs introduced two demands to the City Examination Commission on Admissions to the State Higher Education Institutions of Gyumri: to annul the decision of the Admissions Commission prohibiting the presence of journalists in the examination room during the last hour of the written exams; require the Commission to open to the journalists the minutes, which do not contain state or service secrets (see details in YPC Weekly Newsletter, September 29 – October 5, 2001).
The judge in charge of the case, Edward Manukian, made a decision of transferring the proceedings to the court of primary jurisdiction of Center and Nork-Marash Communities of Yerevan. Since, legally, the duration of the mandate of the Admissions Commission had expired by September 3, 2001, the RA Ministry of Education and Science is to respond to the suit. Now, according to the provisions of the RA Civil Proceedings Code, the next hearings are to be appointed within 60 days.
