Whom did Civilitas displease in Armenia?

David Stepanyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to VK

The law-enforcement agencies’ attack on the fund Civilitas, headed by the former foreign minister of Armenia, Vardan Oskanyan, became the most discussed topic in the summer information calm in the republic.

Last week Oskanyan was invited to the National Security Service of Armenia to be a witness in a criminal case initiated on May 25. Oskanyan was asked to tell about “legalization of revenues gained by illegal ways,” which concerns Oskanyan and his fund Civilitas.

On June 13 the former minister was invited to the NSS as a witness in the criminal case into money laundering. However, Oskanyan refused to talk. Oskanyan told journalists that it was obvious he was questioned not as a witness, but as a suspect. The former minister invoked his constitutional right and refused to talk. At the same time, Civilitas’s criminal case has political background, as it was initiated the day after the leader of Prosperous Armenia, Gagik Tsarukyan, chose to join the ruling coalition.

The fund of Civilitas deals with human rights protection, democratization issues and establishing a civil society. After Oskanyan had joined the Prosperous Armenia party ahead of the parliamentary elections, he rejected the position of the fund’s chairman.

From the very beginning, Civilitas has been financed by the governments of the Netherlands and Poland, the foreign ministries of Norway and Germany, development agencies in Switzerland and the UK, the US embassy in Armenia, the OSCE office in Yerevan, and other organizations, corporations, and individuals. Oskanyan is sure that the relevant Armenian structures have been aware of it. He stated that a political order is behind the initiation of the criminal case.

The ruling Republican Party of Armenia denies the existence of any political reasons for the initiation of the criminal case. However, the press secretary of Prosperous Armenia, Tigran Urikhanyan, thinks that the law-enforcement agencies are doing their best to blacken Vardan Oskanyan’s name. “If it is a financial case, why don’t the relevant bodies deal with it? Why was the criminal case initiated immediately? The political background is obvious,” Urikhanyan stated.

Meanwhile, foreign ambassadors in Armenia got involved in the case of Civilitas. On June 14 ambassadors of the USA, Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Romania visited the fund. According to the US ambassador to Armenia, John Heffern, “the embassy is interested and is following attentively the criminal case initiated into money laundering by the fund Civilitas. The fact that it is happening at the moment concerns us.”

First of all we should answer the questions: whom did Vardan Oskanyan displease and why? Why are they paying attention to the fund at the moment? It is obvious that the law-enforcement agencies will apply harsh methods, and the case negatively influences the international image of Armenia. It seems that the president of Armenia Sargsyan wants to show that he has bad relations with his predecessor, Robert Kocharyan.

The case of Civilitas poses more questions than answers. It is also unclear whether Oskanyan really understands the whole background of the attack on him or not. One thing is obvious – if Civilitas corrupted the law, the relevant bodies knew about it long before the fuss that started. The fact that this case was initiated ahead of the presidential election campaign is very significant.