Court orders the Verkhovna Rada Apparatus to decline ZHAR.INFO query with reasons explained

The Administrative Court of Appeal No. 7 granted a part of the appeal by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (VRU) Apparatus in the lawsuit against ZHAR.INFO on access to information on deputies' business trips since the day of the large-scale invasion and until the query submission date. The Court of Appeal overturned the part of the first instance court's ruling ordering the VRU Apparatus and the Department for Citizens' Appeals to provide the information requested by the online media. This is stated in the March 6 court ruling.

The cancelled ruling was issued by the Khmelnytskyi District Administrative Court on October 22, 2024 and ordered the VRU Apparatus' Department for Citizens' Appeals to provide the media outlet with the data they had requested on February 7, 2024.

The Khmelnytskyi District Administrative Court had ordered the VRU Apparatus' Department for Citizens' Appeals to provide the ZHAR.INFO journalist Alyona Bereza with data on deputies' business trips starting from the day of the large-scale invasion and up to the query submission date.

The Court of Appeal noted in their ruling that the timeframe listed in the journalist's query, namely February 24, 2022 to December 31, 2023, coincides with the period of martial law in Ukraine. The court added that the requested data includes information about the terms, destinations, purposes of the deputies' business trips and conclusions about the information received, the work carried out and its benefit for Ukraine, which is considered limited access information (part 2 of Article 6 of the law).

At the same time, the panel of judges indicated in the ruling that the manager of public information is obligated to prove that access to information may be limited. It was clear from the Department for Citizens' Appeals response to the requester that the respondent did not comply with the requirements of the current law on proper processing of information queries and providing a response.

According to the appellate instance judges, the first instance court did not consider the full picture of the case and chose an incorrect method of restoring the plaintiff's violated right, which then served as the basis for overturning the ruling in this part. The court also ordered the VRU Department for Citizens' Appeals to re-review the query, taking into account the appellate court's findings.

The online media outlet ZHAR.INFO is preparing to file a cassation appeal, founder Maria Turchyna told the IMI.