YEREVAN. – The criminal case opened against The Civilitas Foundation founder, former FM, and Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) MP Vartan Oskanian and the removal of his parliamentary immunity are political persecution, opposition Republic Party member Suren Abrahamyan said, during a press conference on Monday, adding that he feels sorry for Oskanian on a human level.     

But recalling the tragic events that unrolled in capital city Yerevan in March 2008, he noted that Oskanian should directly feel what they had felt at the time. “Vartan Oskanian is the victim of the system created by [Armenia’s second President] Robert Kocharyan,” Abrahamyan added.  

In response to the query as to the objective of the developments in connection with Oskanian, the opposition politician said this is wonderful screenwriting by a wonderful director, and this script has turned the government-opposition standoff into a quarrel between the two governmental wings. “It transformed into a [ruling Republican Party] RPA-PAP clash. They no longer speak about the opposition,” Suren Abrahamyan noted.         

Furthermore, he believes that, under such scenario, incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan will be reelected without any agitation. 

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, on October 2 the National Assembly voted—by 64 ballots for, six against, and with one invalid vote—in favor of Prosecutor General’s petition to include Vartan Oskanian as a defendant in a criminal lawsuit. A total of 71 MPs participated in the voting.

To note, on May 25 NSS Department of Investigation filed a criminal lawsuit on charges of money laundering with respect to The Civilitas Foundation.

The NSS Press Center had informed that an investigation is underway in connection with selling the 100-percent shares of the Huntsman Building Products Company for around $2 million, but not informing Armenia’s tax authorities about this business deal; not using for charitable purposes $1,135,000 of that amount envisioned for charity; transferring this amount to the bank accounts opened under the names of the Civilitas Foundation’s founder Vartan Oskanian,  and of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees member Tigran Karapetyan; and using some of this amount for private purposes.

In addition, as per the NSS Press Center, The Civilitas Foundation had not presented a report on the $2 million allocated for charitable purposes. In his turn, Vartan Oskanian considers the charges to be politically motivated.

The Civilitas Foundation was founded in 2008 by Vartan Oskanian. After joining Prosperous Armenia Party ahead of the May 6 parliamentary elections, however, Oskanian gave up his post as the Foundation Chairman.

Photo by Sona Barseghyan