The Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor Office is going to file a lawsuit in the European Court of Human Rights against the Ministry of Justice.
Artur Sakunts, the manager of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly (HCA) Vanadzor Office, explained what the reason for such a decision was. He said: “We have gotten information from servicemen that money was collected from them, or they were forced to make payments from their monthly salaries. They handed out leaflets with the coat of arms and other advertising materials to everyone and demanded that they buy those for a thousand drams, explaining that this money would be given to the Martik (fighter) foundation and would be used to solve certain social problems related to servicemen.”
According to A. Sakunts, wishing to find out what that foundation really was, they tried to gather information about the foundation, since they had suspicions of corruption risks. However, according to the HCA Vanadzor Office manager, they didn’t find the foundation’s reports in the mass media. And since a foundation is required to send a copy of its report to the Ministry of Justice, they tried to get the report from that institution.
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A. Sakunts added: “Along with that, we made a request to the state register to find out who the founders of the foundation were. We found out that Serzh Sargsyan, the then Minister of Defense, Artur Aghabekyan, his first deputy, and Sedrak Sedrakyan, the head of the Legal Department, Ministry of Defense, were among the founders of the foundation. After that, our suspicions became more grounded. The founders of the foundation are officials and used the administrative resource. Basically using their offices, they demand from inferiors to make payments from their salaries. OK, you have forced them, you have collected, but what social problems have you solved?”
In conclusion, A. Sakunts stated: “Our right to freedom of information has been violated by the state. And in this case, the Ministry of Justice is the one that has the information.”
Karine Kalantaryan, the press secretary of the Ministry of Justice, explained during a conversation with us: “Artur Sakunts applied to the ministry, the issue was examined, and the ministry asked legal persons’ state register to provide the report. However, since they filed a lawsuit in court at that time, the state register informed that they would provide the report based on the court’s decision. Although they provided Artur Sakunts with the report before that, he didn’t sign that he had received it and said that he would continue his struggle in court. No judicial body satisfied his demand. Those reports are not secret; they are published in the press, in The Armenian Soldier newspaper and on www.azdarar.am website. It is required by the law. I don’t want to make any comment, but since there was no secret, they were published, Artur Sakunts was able to get them, but he didn’t accept. Let Artur Sakunts and the reader make their own comments.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
Photo by Arman Veziryan
