An Albanian media platform has won a historic case against 11 state institutions who refused to provide information relating to travel expenses for ministers and government officials.
In July 2019, Faktoje sent formal requests to all Ministries asking for detailed information on the travel and expenses of incumbent ministers and officials during the previous year. This is as per the Law on the Right to Information. Only two ministries, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Justice provided the information.
The publication of the Ministry of Justice’s expenses caused outrage as it came to light the Minister Etilda Gjonaj spent over EUR 700 a night on a trip to Rome. This was equivalent to the amount of social assistance given to 17 families for the period of one month. The invoices revealed numerous stays in five-star hotels in London, Paris, and Brussels, as well as seemingly inflated flight tickets.
Following this publication, other ministries refused to provide Faktoje with the requested information. By law, they are required to give a response within 10 working days. The portal filed complaints with the Commissioner for the Right to Information but this yielded little in the way of assistance.
The matter was then taken to court where it was decided that eight institutions including the Presidency, the Parliament and some ministries should make the requested information available to Faktoje. The battle for access to the information from the Prime Ministers Office continues.
Represented by ResPublica, they claimed that the Commissioner for the Right to Information did not exercise his duties and failed to guarantee the right to the public to receive information. Lawyer Irene Dule said:
“If the journalist had performed their duty, the journalist would have been granted the right to access to information in a much shorter time. and without costs. It would have also prevented the burdening of the courts with more work. The commissioner has a function to deal with complaints submitted to him and to make a decision. In all Faktoje cases, he did not take a decision. This practice is common in his office,” she said.
For six of the court decisions, the judge ruled that the information must be provided immediately regardless of any intention to appeal. This is a landmark decision and is rarely used. Dule said that this sets a positive precedent in terms of the court’s attitude towards matters on the right to information. She added that it shows the court considers the work of journalists as of vital importance.
The Parliament and the Presidency must immediately hand over the relevant information.
The outcome of this case is an important one in a country where journalists have a less than 50% response rate for freedom of information requests. The response rate for Exit is even lower and is in the single digits for 2020.
