On November 22 at the court of primary jurisdiction of Center and Nork-Marash communities of Yerevan the 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 already been reported, by the court decision of October 25 the proceedings on the case were transferred from Gyumri (the administrative center of Shirak region of Armenia) to the capital of the country (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, October 20-26, 2001).
It has also been reported that 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).
On the session in Yerevan Susanna Mkhitarian, the representative of the respondent, the RA Ministry of Education and Science, requested the court to announce an interval for the court to be presented the statutes and other appropriate documents, proving the competence of the legal entity of “Asparez” Journalists’ Club as a plaintiff. As YPC was told by the head of “Asparez” Levon Barseghian, “the demand of the respondent’s representative to prove that we are a non-governmental organization, have a right to protect journalists rights, etc., is a pure attempt to gain some time”.
The judge at chair Vazgen Lalayan satisfied the request and appointed the next session on December 3.
