SEFILYAN’S DEFENDER IS LOOKING FOR AN INDEPENDENT LINGUIST

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[07:16 pm] 12 July, 2007

"We will break the heads of those who return the liberated
territories", this statement was not in the accusation of Colonel
Zhirayr Sefilyan, the commander of a battalion in Shushi.

This was the rudest announcement in the Zhirayr’s speech at the
gathering of "Union of Armenian Volunteers". However harsh it was,
it way not perceived as an appeal to subjugate the power by force. But
this was enough for arresting Zhirayr Sefilyan and Vardan Malkhasyan
according to the Article 301 of the RA Criminal Code.

"Zhirayr Sefilyan and Vardan Malkhasyan are political prisoners,
since they are persecuted not for a criminal crime, but for ideas and
activities", announced Vahe Grigoryan, Sefilyan’s defender during the
"Problem of political prisoners in the RA" discussion organized by
National Civil Iinitiative. He mentioned that he was unable to get
an explanation from the Court why he should defend Sefilyan. Vahe
Grigoryan decided to turn to a linguist to clarify the meaning of the
word "appeal". However, he has found out that it was very difficult
to find an independent linguist in Armenia.

The participants of the discussion tried to find out the constitutional
order that Zhirayr Sefilyan or Vardan Malkhasyan were going to ruin.

The lawyer offered to imagine the list of the words, the articulation
of which in the public may result in persecution. "We should write in
the preface of the Constitution that "the Armenian nation is coward,
whose real freedom is limited for restricting further possible danger".

The defenders of Zhirayr Sefilyan are going to apply to the
Constitutional Court for checking the compliance of the Article 301 of
the Criminal Code with the Constitution. Since the defenders have not
found out Sefilyan’s sin they have to prove his innocence. "We should
prove that Sefilyan’s words reflected his opinion simply. One should
analyze Sefilyan’s speech from philosophic, cultural, historical,
sociological and psychological point of view".