British court rules against disclosing identity of donor behind controversial GBP 10m donation to Oxford University

ArmInfo.  A Judge ruled against  disclosing the secret identity of the donor behind a controversial  ?10m donation to Oxford University (UniofOxford) to establish a new  research centre specialising in Azerbaijan, the Caucasus and Central  Asia, the Armenian National Committee UK reports on X account. 

The donation was facilitated by the "British Foundation for the Study  of Azerbaijan and the Caucasus (BFSAC)", which includes Nargiz  Pashayeva, the sister-in-law of Azerbaijan's autocratic ruler Ilham  Aliyev, as one of the board members.

The judge dismissed open Democracy's appeal for transparency after  the university refused open Democracy's Freedom of Information (FOI)  request asking for the identity of the donor and copies of  communications around the handling of the donation.

Open Democracy contested the case, but the FOI watchdog, the  Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), sided with the university. A  subsequent tribunal backed the ICO, supporting Oxford's secrecy over  the case.

In response, Armenia's Ambassador to Greece Tigran Mkrtchyan wrote: 

"Very worrying development. If this is established it'll immensely  discredit UniofOxford . 

"Studies in Azerbaijan" usually are self-ascertaining themselves to  the detriment of Armenian history, denying 2.500 years of  unquestionable academic research&inventing fairy tales."