JUNE 14, 2012
For the past two weeks, the attention and resources of the Civilitas Foundation and CivilNet.am have been diverted from our mission. Rather than focusing on our work to strengthen civil society and offer alternative sources of reliable information, we are responding to questions arising from baseless criminal charges of money laundering and tax evasion.
The National Security Service has been required to abandon its important mission of ensuring real national security, and instead has been forced to engage in a search for some sort of evidence that would justify the conclusions already drawn. It is obvious that all this is intended to obstruct the work of Civilitas and CivilNet.
Civilitas Foundation programs over the past four years have been carried out in strict compliance with the Foundation’s statutes and the laws of the Republic of Armenia. We commission annual audits, as required by law.
To impute criminal intent to any member of the Civilitas board or staff is to send a clear message to the professional, committed, active generation of young Armenians who understand that they have the right and the responsibility to participate in this country’s governance.
Additionally, it is deplorable and unacceptable that the name of Jon Huntsman, a man who has made invaluable contributions and investments in Armenia since even before independence, has been dragged into this case. Are the Armenian authorities really prepared to alienate all those persons and agencies who have passionately participated in Armenia’s democratization and development in the two decades since it regained independence?
The outpouring of support for Civilitas shows that we will work together to protect the rights of Armenia’s citizens.