The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs today confirmed that Marianne Clark-Hattingh’s duties as UNICEF’s Representative to Armenia have been suspended due to “failures in implementing her mandate and non-cooperative conduct.”

“The shortcomings of UNICEF Representative Marin Clark-Hatting in the implementation of her mandate and the non-cooperative work were problematic for the Armenian side, so the Armenian government decided to terminate her duties as UNICEF Representative in the Republic of Armenia,” Ministry Spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan said in a statement released today.

Earlier, the country’s Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) announced they were looking into allegations that Clark-Hattingh had been in involved in espionage and had collected intelligence for the governments of Azerbaijan and the United Kingdom.

“The authors of these [allegations] reports, in case they possess information containing certainty and specificity, must turn over this information to law enforcement agencies. The prosecution is studying these reports,” PGO Spokesperson Arevik Khachatryan said, adding that they don’t have grounds to initiate criminal proceedings yet.

Update: Prosecutor General Office Spokesperson Arevik Khachatryan told Hetq that they have no information confirming press allegations that Clark-Hattingh had spied for Great Britain and Azerbaijan and this was the reason for her being   declared a persona non grata by the Armenian government.

Khachatryan said that no criminal proceedings have been launched against the UNICEF official.