Sejran Ohanjan

Sejran Ohanjan ( Armenian Սեյրան Օհանյան ; born July 1, 1962 in Shushi , Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region , Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic , USSR ) is an Armenian politician, Colonel General and former Defense Minister of the Republic of Armenia between 2008 and 2016.

biography

The von Ohanjan family moved to the village of Atabek in the Azerbaijani city of Şəmkir (then Shamkhor) shortly after his birth . From 1969 to 1979 he attended primary school in the Nairi province of the Armenian SSR .

Between 1979 and 1983 Ohanjan received military training at the Higher Combined Arms Command School in Baku . After graduation, he was ordered to the GDR to continue his service in the group of the Soviet armed forces in Germany . Here he was first used as the commander of a motorized rifle platoon. In 1987 he was promoted to commander of a motorized infantry unit.

In June 1988 Ohanjan was transferred to the Caucasus and assigned to the Transcaucasian Military District. Here he was appointed commander of the Soviet 366th Guards Rifle Division stationed in Stepanakert (Xankəndi) . In September 1990 he rose to become the leader of the 2nd Rifle Battalion, which was also deployed in Stepanakert.

As one of the commanders of the 366th Guards Rifle Division, Ohanjan is said to have been directly involved in the Khojali massacre in February 1992 , in which several hundred Azerbaijani civilians were killed by Armenian units. Ohanjan is listed as one of the main culprits in a list of 38 Armenian politicians and military personnel who were accused of war crimes by the Azerbaijani side, presented to the national central office of Interpol . Human Rights Watch described the mass murder of the civilian population in Khojaly as the greatest massacre during the Nagorno-Karabakh War .

In May 1992, the units of Ohanjan took part in the occupation of the mostly Azerbaijani-populated city of Shusha in Nagorno-Karabakh . Ohanjan was seriously injured and lost a leg during heavy fighting in Mardakert Province, east of the Breakaway Territory, in September 1992.

After the end of the military conflict, Ohanjan was promoted to the first deputy army commander in 1994 and to commander in chief of the armed forces of the internationally unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic in 1999 .

In 2007 Ohanjan was appointed Chief of Staff of the Army of the Republic of Armenia by decree of the Armenian President Robert Kocharyan . A year later, President Serzh Sargsyan appointed him the country's defense minister. In 2016 he resigned from his position.

In the run-up to the 2017 parliamentary elections, Ohanjan founded the Ohanjan- Raffi - Oskanjan Alliance ( ORO Alliance for short ) and tried to challenge the ruling party around Serzh Sargsyan. But the block did not get enough votes and failed at the 7 percent hurdle.

In January 2019, Ohanjan was accused by the Armenian Public Prosecutor's Office of overturning the constitutional order during the protests in Armenia in 2008 and banned from leaving the country. Ohanjan himself, who was chief of staff of the Armenian troops at the time of the days of mass rallies in Yerevan , denies the allegations made against him.

Private

Sejran Ohanjan is married and has four children (three sons, one daughter).

Individual evidence

↑ Armenpress: Сейран Оганян отмечает 54-й день рождения. July 1, 2016, Retrieved January 19, 2019 (Russian).
↑ Aleksandr Karavayev: Khojaly tragedy: lessons of the past and outlook for the future. (PDF) 2017, accessed on January 19, 2019 (English).
↑ Human Rights Watch / Helsinki (ed.): Azerbaijan: Seven Years of Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh . New York 1994.
↑ ОГАНЯН СЕЙРАН МУШЕГОВИЧ. Retrieved January 19, 2019 (Russian).
↑ Бывший министр обороны Армении Сейран Оганян вызван на допрос в Комитет по госдоходам. June 13, 2018, Retrieved January 19, 2019 (Russian).
↑ Сейран Оганян: все это я характеризую в качестве самоцели, ведущей раскрытие трагических событий 1 марта к явному тупику. January 15, 2019, accessed January 19, 2019 (Russian).

personal data
SURNAME	Ohanjan, Sejran
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Սեյրան Օհանյան (hyS)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Armenian politician, colonel general and defense minister
DATE OF BIRTH	July 1, 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH	Shushi , Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region , Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic , USSR

[1] Armenpress: Сейран Оганян отмечает 54-й день рождения. July 1, 2016, Retrieved January 19, 2019 (Russian).

[2] Aleksandr Karavayev: Khojaly tragedy: lessons of the past and outlook for the future. (PDF) 2017, accessed on January 19, 2019 (English).

[3] Human Rights Watch / Helsinki (ed.): Azerbaijan: Seven Years of Conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh . New York 1994.

[4] ОГАНЯН СЕЙРАН МУШЕГОВИЧ. Retrieved January 19, 2019 (Russian).

[5] Бывший министр обороны Армении Сейран Оганян вызван на допрос в Комитет по госдоходам. June 13, 2018, Retrieved January 19, 2019 (Russian).

[6] Сейран Оганян: все это я характеризую в качестве самоцели, ведущей раскрытие трагических событий 1 марта к явному тупику. January 15, 2019, accessed January 19, 2019 (Russian).