Court upholds OPORA’s right to information about Verkhovna Rada Office

The placard reads: We demand the right of free access to informaiton

The civic network OPORA reports that the Office of the Verkhovna Rada on Sept, 24 lost its appeal against a ruling ordering it to provide OPORA with a copy of its staffing list.  The information which the original court ordered the Office to provide should include details about the structural subdivisions of the Office, the number of the posts; number of members of staff; and pay for each post.

The information is clearly of public significance and it is disturbing that OPORA not only had to go to court to get access to it, but then had to win an appeal against that ruling.

As reported, on July 8 the District Administrative Court in Kyiv ordered the Verkhovna Rada Office to provide the information which OPORA had asked for back on March 27 this year.  They were told that “a staffing list is an internal organizational document which does not have to be divulged in response to an information request. “

In January 2012 the District Administrative Court in Kyiv considered an identical case over a refusal from the Justice Ministry to provide the same information about specific departments within the Ministry.  The suit was allowed, and the Justice Ministry even lost the cassation appeal.