A group of lawyers plan to apply to a court to end the operations of American billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundations in Armenia, famous lawyer Tigran Atanesyan said in a statement on Friday.
He accused the foundation of “sowing the seeds of division and destruction all over the world.”
"The example of our state makes it clear that, in fact, this foundation and its beneficiaries are extremely far from the real goal of building civil society. The foundation actually seeks the destruction of a specific state with far-reaching and calculated political goals," Atanesian wrote.
He highlights that supporters and beneficiaries of the foundation backed the 2018 "revolution" in Armenia, while now they remain silent about violations of the rights of the opposition.
"These days, Soros' hirelings are making ordered statements advocating the handover of Artsakh to the enemy. The first step to get Armenia out of the current situation should be to take legal action to ban the operations of the Soros foundation and liquidate it in Armenia," the lawyer stated.
“A Yerevan court of first instance is now hearing a criminal case in which a beneficiary of Soros’ foundation is accused of inciting ethnic hatred between Yezidis and Armenians. The perpetrator received a tidy sum from corrupt oligarch Soros. His foundation has now taken up the defense of its colleague in a panic which is not surprising, since in a normal country such a criminal prosecution may server as a legal basis for recognizing the operations of the Open Society Foundations illegal and dangerous for the public, thus banning them.
“Although the court has not yet issued a verdict in the case and the defendant is entitled to the presumption of innocence, given the crucial moment and the imperative to immediately stop the activities of a foreign network of agents in the country, I and several of my colleagues have decided to apply to a court to demand that the operations of the Open Society Foundations in Armenia be halted," he said.