On October 2, 2012, Armenia’s National Assembly removed Vartan Oskanian’s parliamentary immunity. This was done at the request of the Prosecutor General and he is expected to follow with criminal charges of expropriation and money laundering against the former foreign minister and member of the Prosperous Armenia Party.

The Prosecutor insists that the government is "protecting the rights of the Civilitas Foundation" from Vartan Oskanian, its founder and Salpi Ghazarian, its director. Mrs. Ghazarian and Tigran Karapetian, a Civilitas Board member and the intermediary in the gift transaction, may also be charged.

The offenses carry a four to 20 year prison sentence. We are convinced that at the base of this persecution is a post-Soviet attempt to muzzle possible political opposition from a leading political figure and the large, influential NGO which he established – the Civilitas Foundation, and its media arm CivilNet.am.

Join in signing this petition to the Government of Armenia to stop the persecution of Vartan Oskanian and the Civilitas Foundation.

For updates please visit CivilNet.am