CIVILITAS FOUNDATION: THE INTERVIEW OF THE INVESTIGATOR OF THE OSKANIAN CASE WAS ONE MORE EVIDENCE THAT THE INVESTIGATION IS BASELESS
arminfo
Friday, November 2, 16:34
The interview of the Deputy Director of the National Security Service
Investigative Unit, Mikayel Hambartsumyan, on the criminal case
involving the Civilitas Foundation and its founder, Vartan Oskanian,
was evidence, yet again, of a baseless investigation, the Civilitas
Foundation says in a press statement released on Friday.
The statement says: “During the entire interview, Hambartsumyan set
aside his professional responsibilities and attempted to present a
distorted reality by manipulating facts and presenting information
selectively. We find it unacceptable that an investigator charged
with prosecuting a criminal case is forced to divert from his
professional responsibilities and carry out a PR campaign.
The Civilitas Foundation Board reasserts that during the time period
when a portion of the Huntsman funds, intended for the Civilitas
Foundation, were in Vartan Oskanian’s account for the purpose of
allocating to the Civilitas Foundation at his discretion, and as
necessary, the Board was aware of the existence of the funds and the
allocations. The Board has never had any concerns or issues with the
availability of funds when they became necessary in order to carry out
activities defined by the organization’s Bylaws.
At the time that the criminal case was opened (May 25, 2012),
approximately one-third of the funds held by Vartan Oskanian had been
transferred to the Civilitas Foundation’s account, based on
Civilitas’s needs, and the remainder, including accrued interest,
remained under Mr. Oskanian’s discretion.
If there are still those who doubt that all this is the result of a
political directive, we wish to point out that harassment and
persecution of the Civilitas Foundation and Vartan Oskanian began in
2009. We have not made public statements about these events, because,
unlike Armenia’s government, we are concerned that the negative
perceptions of our country are not aggravated. However, today, as the
authorities undertake actions which exceed all limits, we are obliged
to mention several actions.
In 2009, one of the Civilitas Foundation’s first supporters became the
subject of direct pressure and was convinced to step back from a
significant multi-year donation.
In 2009, Vartan Oskanian was elected to the Board of one of Armenia’s
commercial banks. The bank’s majority stockholders were threatened
with bankruptcy if they did not remove Mr. Oskanian from the Board.
Near the end of 2009, at the height of the Armenia-Turkey protocols
process, when Vartan Oskanian (and Civilitas analysts as well) spoke
out about the problems inherent in that process, the Civilitas
Foundation was in the midst of implementing a project in Armenia’s
southern Meghri region, in the border villages of Shvanidsor and
Alvank. The $240,000 project, supported by the Swiss Agency for
Development and Cooperation, involved water distribution systems and
local governance mechanisms. As a result of the Armenian government’s
direct interference, the Swiss Foreign Ministry put a stop to the
project, Civilitas had to return unspent funds, and thus future
projects with the same agency, intended to benefit Armenia’s border
villages, also came to an end.
The harassment has spread to the Civilitas staff as well. First,
Civilitas staff members were followed home, for the purposes of
intimidation. Then, three Civilitas staff members who lecture at three
different institutions of higher learning were not invited back this
academic year, and their contracts were not renewed. Yerevan State
University did not renew its contract with journalist/analyst Tatul
Hakobyan, who had taught at the Journalism Department for years. The
same university, and the Pedagogical University as well, did not renew
their contract with Lilik Stepanyan, who taught television journalism
at those institutions. And a private university
as well, AUAJ, with no explanation, did not extend the contract of
Albert Manaseryan.
So many odd ‘coincidences’ are hardly possible. The Civilitas
Foundation Board expects that such intolerance and persecution will
stop.”