On 28 Novemer 2014 Anti-Corruption Coalition of Civil Society Organizations (hereinafter Anti-Corruption Coalition) was established in Yerevan. 70 CSOs from Yerevan and RA regions applied for joining the Coalition, of which 40 CSO representatives participated in the Founding meeting of the Anti-Corruption Coalition. Among those 40 CSOs there are also CSOs from Lori Region.
It is obvious from the first day of the Coalition establishment that it caused anxiety to the Vanadzor Municipal Authorities, which published a falseful material not conforming to the reality about the Anti-Corruption Coalition in an unknown website Armweeklynews.
The author of the website and its owner is Edik Hovsepyan – head of Department on information and employment and the secretariat, and he is also a relative o the Vanadzor Mayor Samvel Darbinyan.
It is obvious that the authors of this material try to discredit the Anti-Corruption Coalition and its initiators, including the Armenian Young Lawyers Association (hereinafter AYLA), at the same trying to mislead the society.
The aspirations of Vanadzor Municipal Authorities to blacken the anti-corruption struggle are conditioned by the following circumstances.
Firstly, the regional coordinator of AYLA, advocate Arthur Sukiasyan recently filed a lawsuit as an advocate against the Vanadzor municipality for refraining from averting the administrative proceeding and obligating to provide information, on applying administrative penalties, in particular demanding to apply administrative penalties to the mayor Samvel Darbinyanfor not providing information.
And secondly the members of Anti-Corruption Coalition – regional branch of AYLA and “Union of Lorians” Benevolent NGO are actively involved in the public control over the activities of Vanadzor municipality.
Thus, the Anti-Corruption Coalition of CSOs condemns this working style and calls upon the Vanadzor Municipal Authorities to refrain from any action non-conforming to the integrity.
Anti-Corruption Coalition of Civil Society Organizations
