On December 11 at the Civil Court of Yerevan hearing of the suit of Ijevan
municipality (Tavush region) versus “Investigative Journalists” NGO, the founder
of “Hetq” on-line, continued. As it has been reported, the plaintiff demands
to refute the information discrediting the honor, dignity and business reputation
of Ijevan Mayor Varuzhan Nersisian – as seen by the city administration to be
present in the articles “Whose Pocket Receives Money from Sand Mine?” and “Will
the Three Commissions Notice the Illegal Use of Sand?”. The articles were
published in “Hetq” on May 5, 2008 and June 23, 2008, respectively, and also
printed on May 20, 2008 and July 9, 2008, respectively, in the supplement to
“Azg” daily, “Transparent Local Self-Government”. Besides, the plaintiff demands
that the expenses of 930 thousand AMD (about $ 3,100) made for the attorney
services be compensated (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, September 26
– October 2, 2008). At the session of December 11 the plaintiff submitted
a motion about involving the correspondent of “Hetq” in Tavush region Voskan
Sargsian, the author of the articles, as a respondent. This issue will be resolved
at next session, scheduled on January 13, 2009.
Meanwhile “Investigative Journalists” on their behalf addressed the RA Administrative
Court with a suit versus Ijevan municipality. The NGO demanded that the Ijevan
municipality provide copies of the Elderly Council session protocol of May 23,
2008 and the decision of the latter to allocate the 930 thousand AMD of the
city budget, that were spent on paying for the attorney services in the litigation
above. Besides, “Investigative Journalists” resolved that the municipality must
compensate their expenses for the attorney’s services, costing 114,000 AMD (see
YPC Weekly Newsletter, September 26 – October 2, 2008).
At the session of November 26 the Administrative Court partially secured the
suit of “Investigative Journalists”. According to the court ruling, the municipality
must provide the journalistic association with the information requested. As
to the compensation of the NGO’s expenses, this must be made out of Ijevan’s
city budget, but only partly, for 8,000 AMD (about $ 26).
