AR KONSTITUCINĖ INFORMACIJOS LAISVĖ YRA PRIORITETINĖ?

Abstract

This article considers to what extent the right to freedom of information is a higher order priority with reference to the Lithuanian Constitution and the rulings of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania. Accordingly, we analyse the notion of freedom of information as formulated by the Constitutional Court, its interpretations in relation to the scope of the content of this freedom, subjects of this freedom, the significance in the context of other rights, as well as the grounds for restricting this freedom. A critical analysis of the rulings of the Constitutional Court examines the arguments the latter has provided to substantiate its final acts in cases relating to freedom of information. The article also responds to the question: does the interpretation of the concept of freedom of information, its content and the grounds for its restrictions (in terms of its scope) reflect an interpretation that is either extensive or restrictive, compared with the linguistic expression of freedom of information entrenched in the Constitution? In individual cases, the particularities of the linguistic text of freedom of information as consolidated in the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and the context (constitutional doctrine) of freedom of information, are compared with the texts of the constitutions and decisions of the constitutional courts of Lithuania’s neighbouring states, as well as with the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. The final chapter considers whether or not the interpretation is lacking or insufficient in relation to certain aspects of freedom of information enshrined in the constitutional doctrine of the Republic of Lithuania.