“Chitchat Aids the Enemy”: Soviet-era propaganda-poster, 1954. Author: V.Koretsky
In a court hearing presided over by Judge Arman Dilanyan on March 11, 2016 the Administrative Court of Armenia decided to reject Peace Dialogue NGO’s complaint challenging the legitimacy of the classification of secret information mentioned in Section 17, Point 42 and 43 in the list provided by Executive Order N9 of the Ministry of Defense, dated July 9, 2015, and to partially annul the executive order.
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According to the court, “assessment of the emergency incidents and the accidents in the armed forces and the short descriptions revealing the causes of these incidents, as well as the information disclosing the official investigation materials prepared based on the illegalities that were the result of such incidents are not included in the restrictions of the listing of information as state and official secrets specified in Article 10 of the RA Law on ‘State and Official secrets’.”
At the same time, taking into consideration the (military) nature of the information mentioned in Section 42 and 43 that the executive order refers to and the nature of this information, the Court found that in the present military and political situation this information may include details, the disclosure of which, may present threats to the security of the Republic of Armenia.
The decision of the Administrative Court can be appealed to the RA Court of Appeal within one month after its publication.
Peace Dialogue NGO strongly disagrees with the Court ruling (for example it is not clear how the Armenia’s safety can be jeopardized) and intends to appeal the verdict.
According to lawyer for the case Mushegh Shushanyan by issuing the executive order N9 dated July 9, 2015, as well as the provisions that were challenged in the complaint, the RA Ministry of Defense; 1) exceeded its powers, particularly by including in the mentioned extended list the information that is not listed in the exhaustive list of state and official secrets provided by Article 9 of the RA Law on State and Official Secret and thus 2) the Minister usurped the legislative power, since by including in the extended list the information that is not provided by the exhaustive list of state and official secrets he provided a basis for a restriction of a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution (this may be prescribed only by law).
After examining the verdict of the Administrative Court lawyer Mushegh Shoushanyan concludes that such a Court is a threat to the security of the Republic of Armenia itself.
“The court decision not only flagrantly violates and ignores the principles of the Constitution and the international treaties and laws, but this simply “raped” the very essence of the fundamental principle of the rule of law.
In such circumstances, there is no basis for saying that the Court made such a decision and acted as a “Court” since the term “court” should denote to not only the body of judicial authority (in formal sense the courts of totalitarian /authoritarian states are also bodies of judicial authority) but a procedure for administration of justice guaranteed by the state law and the universally recognized principles of international law.
This at least requires to respect the state’s own Constitution and ensure that the rights of ordinary people are protected from the arbitrariness of state bodies and / or their officials. The existence of such Court is indeed a threat to the security of the Republic of Armenia.”- stated M. Shushanyan.
The two lawyers of NGO engaged in the case Mushegh Shushanyan and Arthur Sukiasyan will file an appeal.
The Armenian version of the full text of Administrative Court decision can be found here (PDF, 8 MB).
