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Shushan Doydoyan, President of the Freedom of Information Center of Armenia (FOICA), has denounced the My Step Charitable Foundation’s response to an inquiry from Panorama.am as “unacceptable”.

“Foundations should also comply with the principles of publicity and transparency,” she said on Saturday.

As reported earlier, the Information and Public Relations Department of the Armenian Prime Minister’s Office and the My Step Foundation headed by Anna Hakobyan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's wife, failed to answer Panorama’s questions about the amount of money spent on Hakobyan’s visit to Italy in November and the sources of the funds. In return, the My Step Foundation invited the Panorama.am reporter to participate in the Communication Skills professional training courses launched within the framework of its Education is Fashionable initiative.

“In response to your query, we are inviting you to participate in the Communication Skills professional training courses as part of the My Step Charitable Foundation’s Education is Fashionable initiative which would allow you to acquire new knowledge and distinguish which institution and to whom you should address your questions, and in which cases you can refer to the Law on Freedom of Information in your requests,” reads the response letter from Davit Mkrtchyan, Deputy Director for Operations and Public Relations of the My Step Foundation.

Doydoyan says the My Step Foundation could have simply declined to answer the questions, arguing that the information freedom law cited in the request was not applicable to it.

“But under the principles of transparency and public accountability, they should have provided a response. Certainly, I consider their behavior unacceptable and inappropriate for an organization that seeks to gain popularity. On and off, they engage in quite a bit of public communication to reach a wider audience. Therefore, they should be ready to be asked questions and provide full answers to them,” the expert opined.

The Freedom of Information Center also provided a legal analysis of Panorama’s request submitted to the Department of Information and Public Relations of the Prime Minister's Office and forwarded to the My Step Foundation based on the response of its head, as well as the answers given to the request.

FOICA concluded that the government’s response for the Panorama.am journalist to forward the request to the My Step Foundation, an organization which did not obtain information on the issues raised, as well as its failure to provide reliable and complete answers to all the questions in the inquiry, amounted to a violation of Articles 9 and 12 of the Law on Freedom of Information.

It said the reporter can either resubmit the questions to the government seeking information, or challenge its response in court.