The conference was organized and held by AIP in the frame of the project Pushing for Accountability of Government through ATI Legal Assistance and Litigation, financed by the Open Society Institute, Human Rights and Governance Grants Program, Budapest.

Among the 100 participants were lawyers, judges from administrative courts, representatives of NGOs, media, activists, citizens who have submitted ATI requests and have appealed refusals in the court.

 

The Ombudsman of Bulgaria, Mr. Konstantin Penchev and the Chairperson of the Administrative Court Sofia City, Mr. Lozan Panov addressed the audience at the opening. Foreign experts from Armenia, Hungary, Rumania, Slovakia, and UK took part in the conference. They discussed the access to information litigation experience accumulated in Bulgaria during 2009-2011, more precisely related to the exemptions of the right of access to information; to access to public bodies contracts; openness of decision-making process; and access to information of high public interest. Please, refer to the agenda of the conference.

Experience in the defense of the right of access to information at an European level was shared by Mr. Tony Bunyan (Director of Statewatch).

Pictures from the conference can be viewed here.