On April 14 the Association of Investigative Journalists and its Chairman Edik Baghdasarian filed a suit with the court of primary jurisdiction of Center and Nork-Marash communities of Yerevan against the Yerevan municipality.
According to Edik Baghdasarian, he is demanding that the city administration ensures his right to information, necessary to finish the journalistic investigation on the illegal building up of the public green zone around the National Opera and Ballet Theater. During the past years 12 cafes and restaurants were built on those grounds. The destruction of the green “spots” that Yerevan is not very abundant in has always caused numerous public protests, neglected by the city authorities. An opinion is voiced that there is not a single incidental person among the owners of the cafes and restaurants around the Opera Theater, they all belong to people, well-known in the country.
Edik Baghdasarian addressed the present Mayor of Yerevan Yervand Zakharian with request to access the resolutions of the city administration on using this public territory for construction, adopted in 1997-2003, but was repeatedly refused with varying pretexts. After this the journalist addressed a letter to the Control Chamber of the RA President, from where it was redirected back to the municipality, where the journalist is still being refused information. Thus, according to Mr. Baghdasarian, he only has to hope for a court decision to get access to documents, basing on which the construction in one of the most beautiful places of the Armenian capital was made.
