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SEFILIAN’S DEPORTATION – A SERIOUS ISSUE FOR THE
LEBANESE EMBASSY
[07:12 pm] 27 May, 2008
Today in defence of Zhirayr Sefilian the latter’s
relatives and friends staged a protest action at the
Lebanese Embassy in Armenia. As it turned out the
employees of the Lebanese Embassy were as much
concerned about Sefilian’s probable deportation from
Armenia as his relatives and friends were.
Some of the protesters were kindly accepted by Ibrahim
Assaf, temporary envoy of the Lebanese Ambassador to
Armenia.
-Zhirayr Sefilian is a citizen of Lebanon and we must
consider the fact. Our Embassy is aware of Sefilian’s
problem and the Ambassador has been visiting him in
the detention cell-, informed Ibrahim Assaf.
Noting that the Embassy is not competent to interfere
in the affairs of Armenian authorities, the Envoy
promised to raise the problem through diplomacy and
philanthropy.
-We know that the Armenian authorities have turned to
the Administrative Court with the request to deport
Zhirayr Sefilian from Armenia but we have received no
official notice proving the fact. We learnt about it
only through mass media-, states Assaf. -The Armenian
authorities were to have come to an agreement with the
Lebanese Embassy about the deportation of Sefilian
since he is a citizen of Lebanon. Besides, according
to the Armenian Constitution if the citizen has
under-age children in the given country he cannot be
deported from there.-
By the way, as Zhirayr Sefilian’s wife is an employee
of the Lebanese Embassy to Armenia, her husband and
children have the right of at least temporary
residence in Armenia and the possibility of his
deportation is once again excluded.
-I sincerely hope that Sefilian’s problem will be
solved and his family will not suffer-, said Ibrahim
Assaf and promised that the Embassy would continue to
give humanitarian aid and support to its citizen.
In defence of Zhirayr Sefilian another protest action
was staged at the French Embassy in Armenia.
Sefilian’s friends sent an open letter to the
Ambassador with a request to demand that the Armenian
authorities stop violating Sefilian’s rights.