Constitutional Court of Armenia takes precedent decision over mandatory disclosure by media of information source

The Constitutional Court of Armenia granted today the applications of ‘Hraparak’ newspaper and Spart Media LLC – the founder of iLur.am – over the obligation to disclose a source of information. The applications were filed by lawyers Artak Zeynalyan and Ara Ghazaryan.

The Constitutional Court examined in written form the case related to the two media outlets and ruled that due to newly revealed circumstances, the final court decisions regarding the applicants shall be reviewed in court as the disputed provisions were used with respect to the applicants based on a different interpretation.

The lawyers view that decision of the Constitutional Court of Armenia as a precedent decision. They intend to ask the Court of Cassation to re-open the case.

The Constitutional Court received the abovementioned applications after a court upheld a suit of the Special Investigative Service about disclosure by iLur.am and ‘Hraparak’ newspaper of a source of information over a story published by those two media outlets, following which a criminal case was opened by law enforcers. Yet the suit was upheld by Judge Gagik Khandanyan in the absence of representatives of the two outlets.