Journalist wins an ECHR lawsuit against the Verkhovna Rada
On October 5, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued a judgement in the case of a Ukrainian journalist, Kateryna Avramchuk, contesting the refusal to provide her with information on the apartments given to deputies by the state.
This was reported by the Center for Democracy and the Rule of Law, which provided full legal support to the case for more than 10 years.
The ECHR sided with Kateryna Avramchuk and ruled that such information should not be withheld.
Back in 2013, the journalist sent a request to the Apparatus of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, asking for full information about the cost and floor space of the apartments allocated to each individual deputy.
The Rada Apparatus responded to the request by providing data on the number of the apartments allocated to the deputies of the then (sixth) convocation, their floor space, and the average cost of one square meter of real estate at that time. However, the letter did not contain the names of the deputies who received the apartments. Kateryna Avramchuk tried to appeal to the court to compel the VRU Apparatus to list the owners, but was refused by the first instance court. The Court of Appeal upheld the first court's ruling.
Back in 2012, the Center's lawyers contested the judgement of the Kyiv District Administrative Court and later filed a lawsuit at the European Court of Human Rights.
Ultimately, the ECHR ruled that the refusal to provide the journalist with information violates Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
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