Freedom of Information Center of Armenia.

The decrees of the President of the RA National Assembly were publicized thanks to the case initiated against the RA NA. By its Decision of December 28, 2013 the RA Administrative Court upheld FOICA’s claim, thus recognizing the fact of violation of freedom of information right and obliging the NA to provide the rejected information as well as to compensate court expenses FOICA has made.

The case was based on NA’s rejection to provide some of the copies of decisions by President of NA for the first half-year of 2012, claiming that these decrees contain personal data on employees. Therefore, the decision of the RA Administrative Court was was important because the court stated its position on the cases when restriction in providing information was well grounded. Thanks to this case, the comment of the court can be further invoked in similar cases when a state agency rejects providing information on an unlawful basis.

This initiative of FOICA has yet another positive outcome. This court decision has value of precedent because the court recognized the fact of violation of FOICA’s right to receive information. This is important because it is only by recognizing the violation of rights that it would be possible to undertake elimination of the consequences of violation of rights and claim for information that were preliminary rejected as well as compensation for damages, etc.

The National Assembly compensated also FOICA’s legal expenses of 50.000 AMD.