DANGER OF ZHIRAYR SEFILIAN’S DEPORTATION PRESERVES

Noyan Tapan
Dec 13 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 13, NOYAN TAPAN. The danger of deportation of Zhirayr
Sefilian, the Coordinator of the Defence of Liberated Territories
public initiative, the Commander of the Shoushi special battalion,
preserves. Armen Aghayan, the organization’s Political Secretary,
informed journalists about it on December 13. In his words, though
against spread rumors Zh.Sefilian was not deported to Lebanon
late in the evening of December 10 by a plane flying from Yerevan
to Beirut, leakage of information about possible deportation of
Zh.Sefilian continues from the National Security Service. Mentioning
that everything will be done to prevent Zh.Sefilian’s deportation,
A.Aghayan at the same time did not disclose the steps to be done in
this direction. Zh.Sefilian who was arrested on December 10 by RA
National Security Service employees is charged with making public
appeals for changing RA constitutional order by force (Article 301,
RA Criminal Code). As A.Aghayan said, his arrest, as well as search
of his flat that followed the arrest were done for show. Thus,
Zh.Sefilian’s arrest took place at a restaurant where he was with
his family and friends.

VivaCell company’s Director, Lebanese Armenian Ralph Yirikian was also
among the latters (he was Sefilian’s classmate). By the way, he was
also arrested, but was released some minutes later. In A.Aghayan’s
words, the arms discovered at Zh.Sefilian’s apartment was a martial
award given to him by former Commander of NKR defence army, Samvel
Babayan. As regards ammunition, only some bullets not fit for use were
discovered. A.Aghayan said that such "ammunition" can be found at home
of any participant of Karabakh liberation war. Arrest of 2 months was
chosen as a preventive punishment towards Zh.Sefilian at the December
12 closed trial of first instance court of Yerevan’s Kentron and
Nork-Marash communities that lasted for seven hours and ended only
late in the evening. According to information provided by A.Aghayan,
Sefilian refused to testify at the court declaring that the accusations
brought to him are fake and have political motives. According to the
report spread by the National Security Service, the Consolidation of
Armenian Volunteers organization initiated by Zhirayr Sefilian and
some of his supporters having no registration by RA law pursued the
goal to make illegal, force intervention into the coming political
processes in RA, in particular, into the process of the 2007 elections
by undertaking extremist actions. In A.Aghayan’s words, there are some
versions about the real reasons of Zh.Sefilian’s arrest. A.Aghayan
considers improbable one of them concerning his activity aimed
against return of liberated territories, as it seems that no return
of territories is expected in the coming period. In his words, the
authorities try to impede the activity of the Defence of Liberated
Territories public initiative in the direction of taking control of the
process of parliamentary elections. A.Aghayan said that the volunteers
involved in the Consolidation of Armenian Volunteers are ready to
exercise such control without striving for receiving mandates. He
also assured that as a result of Zh.Sefilian’s arrest the organization
will not stop its activity and possibly, will extend it for even more.