Shirair Sefilian

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Shirair Sefilian

Schirair Sefilian ( Armenian Ժիրայր Սէֆիլեան ; born July 10, 1967 in Beirut , Lebanon ; Jirair Sefilian) is a former Armenian military commander during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and brigade commander of the armed forces of the internationally unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic between 1997 and 1998. Today he is considered one of the leading opposition politician in Armenia , leader of the constituent parliamentary movement and co-founder of the “New Armenian Civil Liberation Front”.

biography

Sefilian graduated from the Armenian college "Gevorg Tschatalbaschian" in Beirut in 1986. During the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990) he took part in the self-defense of the Armenian community and at the same time acted as a member and political activist of the Lebanese representation of the nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF). In 1990, Sefilian was sent to Armenia to train voluntary military units for the upcoming war with Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh. From 1991 he took part directly in the armed fighting. The special forces under his personal command played a decisive role in the annexation of the mostly Azerbaijani-populated city of Shusha in May 1992. His units were also involved in the occupation of the cities of Aghdam , Kälbädschär , Mardakert (Ağdərə) and Chodschavand (Martuni).

After the Nagorno-Karabakh War, Sefilian lived in Lebanon for two years, but returned to Nagorno-Karabakh in 1997 and was appointed brigade commander with the rank of lieutenant colonel . In 1999 he left the ranks of the ARF and from 2001 devoted himself to active political activity as a radical oppositionist.

On December 10, 2006, Sefilian and his colleague Vardan Malchasjan were arrested and sentenced to one and a half years in prison for public calls for violent changes to the constitutional order and illegal possession of weapons. He was released in June 2008 after serving his sentence. Sefilian repeatedly sharply criticized the government of Serzh Sargsyan . In a 2013 interview, he claimed that Zargyan and Robert Kocharyan were not very influential in Nagorno-Karabakh. He accused both of widespread corruption in Armenia.

In April 2015, Sefilian was arrested again. This time the Armenian security authorities accused him of preparing mass unrest. Local human rights activists described his arrest as politically motivated. He was released a month later. Sefilian took a firm stand against the planned constitutional changes and founded the New Armenian Civil Liberation Front in December 2015 together with the head of the “Erbe” party Raffi Howannisjan .

On June 20, 2016, Sefilian was arrested for the third time. This time, the special investigation agency of Armenia said that Sefilian and his colleagues had planned to bring the strategically important government buildings, communication facilities and the television tower of Yerevan under their control. However, Varushan Avetisian , one of the leaders of the Sasna Tsrer uprising, alleged that Sefilian was arrested for getting in the way of the Sargsyan government's plans to agree on concessions in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and to return some Armenian-occupied territories around Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan posed.

The bloody hostage-taking of Yerevan took place on July 17, 2016 , which lasted for two weeks. The insurgents involved demanded the release of Sefilian and the resignation of Serzh Sargsyan.

In March 2018, Sefilian was sentenced to 10.5 years in prison by a Yerevan district court. After the 2018 revolution in Armenia and the overthrow of the Serzh-Sargsyan government, Sefilian filed an application for early release with an appeals court. He was released straight from the courtroom on June 13th.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Аргументы и факты: Что произошло в Армении и кто такой Жирайр Сефилян? July 17, 2016, Retrieved November 25, 2018 (Russian).
  2. ↑ Жирайр Сефилян: карьера и биография . In: FB.ru . ( fb.ru [accessed November 25, 2018]).
  3. ↑ opposition activist Jirair Sefilian arrested in Armenia . In: PanARMENIAN.Net . ( panarmenian.net [accessed November 25, 2018]).
  4. ^ Armenian oppositionist Arrested Over 'Coup Plot'. Retrieved November 25, 2018 (Armenian).
  5. ↑ Armenia: The hostage situation in Yerevan ended after two weeks . In: Spiegel Online . July 31, 2016 ( spiegel.de [accessed November 25, 2018]).
  6. ↑ Жирайр Сефилян приговорен к 10 годам тюрьмы: как это связано с Карабахом . In: ИА REGNUM . ( regnum.ru [accessed November 25, 2018]).
  7. ↑ Sefilian, Other Jailed Opposition Members Released on Bail | Asbarez.com. Retrieved November 25, 2018 (American English).
personal data
SURNAME Sefilian, Shirair
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Սէֆիլեան, Ժիրայր
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Armenian military commander during the Nagorno-Karabakh war
DATE OF BIRTH July 10, 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH Beirut , Lebanon