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The Battles of Karen Kuzuyan

The human rights defender is winning in court access to information cases related to the stray dogs and the measures taken by the Municipality of Silistra

Kalina Grancharova

“Stray Animals Rescue – Bulgaria”

The NGO Stray Animals Rescue - Bulgaria" is founded in 2013 in the city of Varna. It has a branch in the city of Silistra. Its main objectives are to protect the rights of animals, including through interaction with the legislature and local governments in view of adopting adequate legal provisions guaranteeing the protection of animals; assistance for  strengthening the principles of humane attitude to the animals in the Bulgarian society; exercise of civil control over the competent state and municipal institutions, responsible under the law to carry out activities in protection of life and health of animals; raising public awareness to alert competent authorities in cases of unlawful treatment of animals; establishing contacts and collaboration with local and international institutions involved in the protection of animal rights; cooperation with organizations working in the same field; improving the quality of life mainly of stray animals by conducting medical treatment, castrations, marking with chips, vaccinations and deworming and adoption of animals.

Karen Kuzuyan won two court cases in 2014 initiated after refusal of access to information. Kuzuyan had requested documents under the Access to Public Information Act (APIA) from the Municipality of Silistra and from the Non-profit Association for the Development of Tourism in the Region of Tutrakan.
 
Karen is one of these people that are recognized for their active citizen position. He is an environmentalist from Silistra who is seeking information on topics of high public interest. More specifically – the issue of the stray dogs in the city and the measures undertaken by the Municipality of Silistra to solve the problem.

Karen’s battle with the institutions has started in 2013, when due to his eagerness three meetings were held on the topic with the regional governor in the period November 2013 – March 2014. It turned out that there was a contract signed between the municipality and the Non-profit Association for the Development of Tourism in the Region of Tutrakan with the subject matter of “Capturing, castrating, vaccinating, disinfecting, and marking with electronic chip of the stray dogs in the territory of the Municipality of Silistra.”

In March 2014, Kuzuyan filed a request under the APIA to the Municipality of Silistra, asking for a copy of the signed contract. He was granted access within the legally prescribed period. In the meanwhile, as a result of the debates during the meetings at the Regional Governor’s Office, it turned out that the association did not answer all legal requirements for performing those activities and the municipality terminated the contract. This was followed by the signing of a new contract … with the same association.

Kuzuyan filed another request, asking for a paper copy of the new contract. On June 10, 2014, the Mayor of Silistra doctor Yulian Naydnov refused access on the grounds that “the requested information had been provided to the requestor within the preceding  six months.”

Karen Kuzuyan did not stop here. He filed an APIA request to the other party of the contract – the Non-profit Association for the Development of Tourism in the Region of Tutrakan. He demanded access to a paper copy of the contract signed between the association and the municipality, the invitation sent by the Municipality of Silistra to the association for the execution of the activities under the contract, the diary of the association containing the registration of all captured dogs, the way-bill of the car equipped under the law to capture the animals under the contracted time table, as well as the protocols for euthanizing dogs.

With a letter No. 001/01/07.2014, the association refused access, because “pursuant to the Bulgarian legislation, the Non-profit Association for the Development of Tourism in the Region of Tutrakan was not an obliged body under the Access to Public Information Act.”

In reality, however, the activities that are performed by the association within the territory of the Municipality of Silistra are paid from the municipal budget, meaning public money, and pursuant to Art. 3, Para. 2, item 2 of the APIA, it is obliged to provide information.

That is why Kuzuyan continued the battle in the court. He filed a complaint against the refusal with the assistance of the AIP legal team. The first victory came on October 8, 2014, when with a Decision No. 57, the Administrative Court of Silistra repealed the refusal of the mayor and the environmentalist was granted access to the contract.

There was a positive development on the second case as well. With a Decision No. 73 as of November 26, 2014, the Administrative Court of Silistra “repealed the refusal to consider a request under the Access to Public Information Act issued by the Non-profit Association for the Development of Tourism in the Region of Tutrakan.

The court decision was not appealed and in January 2015, Karen Kuzuyan received a written response from the association.

In the meanwhile, Karen left for Newcastle, England, and sent the following statement: “I am grateful for the support of AIP in this saga with the municipality and the association. I love the animals and can say that since I have come to Albion, I have not seen a single stray dog!”

 

February 2015

 

This case is part of the book "Civil Participation and Access to Information (15 Years of the APIA, 37 stories of NGOs)" published by AIP within the implementation of the project “Enhancing the Capacity of Nongovernmental Organizations to Seek Public Information” supported with a grant under the NGO Programme in Bulgaria under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area 2009 – 2014 (www.ngogrants.bg).

The whole responsibility for the content shall be taken by the Access to Information Programme Foundaiton and it cannot be assumed under any circumstances that the document reflects the official stance of the  Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area and the Operator of the Programme for NGO support in Bulgaria.

 

 

 


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