Armenian Defense Ministry Claims Information Requested by NGO is “State Secret”
07.25.2014 21:46 epress.am
The Court of Appeal of the Republic of Armenia (RA) on July 24 began
examination of the appeal of the RA Ministry of Defense, which is
disputing an RA Administrative Court ruling.
Recall, the Administrative Court on April 9 upheld the claim of
Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor Office against the RA Ministry of
Defense and ordered the defense ministry to provide the information
requested by the organization — that is, the names of organizations
supplying food, clothing, fuel, and stationery supplies and the types
of food, clothing, fuel, and stationery supplies they have supplied.
According to the organization’s website [AM], reading the appeal, the
Ministry of Defense representative, Manik Santrosyan, said that the
information requested by the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor
Office contains state and official secrets; thus, he cannot provide it
and the court did not take this fact into account when issuing its
ruling.
The Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor Office, however, said that
those purchases that are not made to ensure military equipment, arms,
ammunition, or military equipment cannot be considered state secrets.
From: Baghdasarian