YPC, Yerevan, 13 Dec 2008 – 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. 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.
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).
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