Vartan Oskanian, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia and a member of the PAP parliamentary group, informed by a statement spread just now that he had been summoned by the National Security Service under the Cabinet to give testimony in the framework of a legal case opened according to Article 190, Paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code (legalizing benefits gained by unlawful means (money laundering)), which concerned his activities and the activities of the Civilitas Foundation he had established. “It is surprising and strange for me that my activities and the
activities of the Civilitas Foundation can be linked to criminal and illegal money in any way. It is more surprising that such an issue is put forward, when I have been engaged in political processes. It is obvious that there are political instructions behind this criminal case,” reads the statement made by Vartan Oskanian. During a conversation with www.aravot.am, Tigran Urikhanyan, the press secretary of the PAP, commenting on the given statement of the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, said, “Now, as always, I want to express hope that in any case, the law-enforcement bodies of Armenia will make every step they are going to take conditional exceptionally on the current legislation and the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia. That they will not be guided by any political reasons while investigating crimes.” Urikhanyan said that they would pay close attention to the activities of the respective bodies and when an incomprehensible or doubtful thing for them happened, they would immediately respond.
In response to an observation that Oskanian had already assessed what had happened as “political instructions,” Tigran Urikhanyan said, “My colleagues and I will make the developments the focus of our attention. In case of violating any right of any citizen of the Republic of Armenia, any organization engaged in constructive political activities, moreover, a representative of the PAP, naturally, we will stand by that person.”
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Nelly GRIGORYAN
