The RA Constitutional Court took the Claim of HCA Vanadzor into Proceedings

On March 6, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. the RA Constitutional Court will use written procedure to examine the claim of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor regarding determining whether the point f) of the 4th part of Article 8 and the 6th and 7th parts of Article 12 of the RA Law on State Secrets contradict of the RA Constitution.

  

In particular, the HCA Vanadzor’s claim states that Article 12 of the RA Law on State and Official Secrets entitles the agencies of the executive branch to develop and, with legal acts, verify extensive departmental lists of confidential information, which they are authorized to manage. 

Moreover, the provisions of the disputed article prescribes that the list of confidential information itself is also confidential. In other words, confidential legal acts of the department define what information is confidential. 

Under such conditions, a large and important sphere of activity of public authorities is left out of public supervision, which is incompatible with the fundamental principles of a legal and democratic society.