Does Sakunts want to control Special Investigation Service?

Today in RA Administrative Court the examination of the case of Helsinki Citizens' Assembly-Vanadzor against RA Special Investigation Service (SIS) was completed.
 
Artur Sakunts, head of the HCA-Vanadzor demanded the court provide him with copies of the documents on cases dated on January 1 to March 17, 2010. RA Special Investigation Service refused to provide Artur Sakunts with the  mentioned information justifying that he wasn’t a respective and competent entity.

Artak Zeynalyan, the representative of the interests of HCA-Vanadzor, mentioned that RA Special Investigation Service felt that Artur Sakunts tried to oversee their work; however, the respondent party had not participated in any session. On the interview with “A1+” TV channel Artak Zeynalyan  said that not coming to the session was legal but it was disrespectful towards the court.

RA Special Investigation Service also mentioned in the documents that they justified rejection because of inattentive attitudes towards the claimant. “RA Special Investigation Service acts as if no decision will be held against them”, concluded Artak Zeynalyan.

In court, based on the RA Constitution, law on “Freedom of Information”, and Human Rights European Convention,  Artak Zeynalyan underlined that RA Special Investigation Service  had  violated the five-day deadline and presented ungrounded justifications for the rejection. As an example, the documents that were required of Artur Sakunts, contained confidential informaton and the purpose of their usage was not necessary for the RA Special Investigation Service.

“The person looking for the information does not have to give explanations on what he or she needs the information for. How the information is going to be used by Artur Sakunts or anyone else for that matter is a legal right. However, I can assure that Artur will use the information in the interests of society. In this case no preliminary investigation was made on those documents, so they are not considered confidential”, said Artak Zeynalyan. Artak Zeynalyan assures that those are such documents that both parties of the trial as well as any entity can have access to them. “It appears that RA Special Investigation Service still doesn’t realize that a person, human rights, and dignity are valuable”, Artak Zeynalyan mentioned.

In conclusion, to the question of whether RA Special Investigation Service, which examines the crimes of state bodies, wants to hide information by rejecting Artur Sakunts' demand, Artak Zeynalyan responded:  “If they provide the legal information available in the documents, no one will suspect the RA Special Investigation Service of hiding anything”.  The court will announce its decision on October 19, 2010. 

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