On April 14, 2004 the Association of Investigative Journalists NGO and reporter Edik Baghdasaryan registered a formal complaint with the Court of First Instance of the Kentron and Nork-Marash Communities, accusing the Yerevan Mayor's Office of negligence.

Edik Baghdasaryan has been working on a series of articles about allocations land for cafes in the public park surrounding Yerevan's Opera House, about the abuse of power during the allocation process, and violations during the construction of the cafes, including the destruction of green areas. There are no ordinary citizens among the owners of the twelve cafés near the Opera-they are government officials and members of parliament. Last October, Baghdasaryan appealed to Mayor Yervand Zakharyan requesting permission to see the decisions regarding these land allocations taken from 1997 to 2003 by former mayors Vano Siradeghyan, Suren Abrahamyan, Albert Bazeyan and Robert Nazaryan. However, Zakharyan refused to provide the reporter with texts of his predecessors' decisions on various pretexts. Baghdasaryan then appealed againt this groundless action to President Robert Kocharyan. The president's office sent the appeal to Yervand Zakharyan-the official whose actions the reporter was contesting. The mayor again refused to provide the reporter with the information in question.

The Association of Investigative Journalists has been forced to appeal to the court in the hope that it will oblige mayor Zakharyan to fulfill his duty.