Jirair Sefilian
Encyclopedia
Jirair Sefilian is an Armenia
n military commander and political
activist. Alternative spellings of his name include Jirayr Sefilyan and Zhirayr Sefilyan.
. During the Lebanese Civil War
, he took part in the defense of the Armenian quarters
of Beirut.
In 1990, with the purpose of participating in the Karabakh
(Artsakh) movement he was sent to Armenia by A.R.F (Dashnaktsutyun), Sefilian moved to Armenia
with his family. As a military instructor, he was involved in the formation of self-defense units
in Karabakh and Syunik
. In 1991, as a military detachment commander, Sefilian took part in the defense of several districts of Nagorno-Karabakh
. In 1992 he was Chosen by A.R.F to be the commander of the Shushi special military company, playing a significant role during the Battle of Shusha
.
Following the Nagorno-Karabakh War
, in 1997-1998 he was the NKR
Defense Army Brigade Commander. Sefilian was awarded with the First Degree Order of “Martakan Khach” (Fighting Cross) military medals. He is an army lieutenant-colonel of the Republic of Armenia. Since 2001, Sefilian has been coordinating the activities of the public initiative group, "Liberated territories".
Sefilian and Vartan Malkhasian, the leaders of opposition group called the Alliance of Armenian Volunteers, were arrested in 2006. Human rights observers charged the arrest was politically motivated and that authorities used the controversial article of the Criminal Code to intimidate the opposition. Ombudsman
of Armenia Armen Harutyunyan
also condemned Sefilian's and his friends' arrest and marked that Sefilian, Vartan Malkhasian, and Vahan Aroyan "didnt break the judicial legislation".
According to Bulgaria
n journalist, colonel Svetana Paskaleva, "Jirair is one of the living icons I knew - Bekor
, Monte
, Samvel Babayan
... Im happy that I know him"!
Sefilian has claimed his innocence and that no crime has been committed on his part: "This is not a court, this is a theater. Even the biggest supporter of the government cannot show evidence of corpus delicti
in our actions. This is all an order. The NSS is working to the gain of two people (Robert Kocharyan and Serge Sargsyan). All those who had something to do with this case will eventually answer for it. The famous pair is foolishly trying to punish me and to scare the people. My dear people, we must not fear this anti-Armenian regime, we must struggle against it. This amoral regime is not powerful, we are powerful."
Sefilian completed his 18-month sentence on June 9, 2008 and was subsequently released from prison. He was greeted by hundreds of Armenians who came "to congratulate the hero on his liberty". However, Sefilian continues to face the threat of deportation from Armenia since May 2008 and has since begun seeking political asylum and citizenship in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
. As of May 2008, Sefilian has been denied Armenian citizenship.
In his letters and announcements made from the prison, Jirair Sefilian supported former Armenian president and opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrossian
despite ideological differences with the latter, but later (in 2009) he criticized Ter-Petrossian's views on Armenia-Azerbaijan and Armenia-Turkey relations and suggested him to left the all-Armenian people's movement. On October 30, 2008, Sefilian alongside intellectuals and a group of prominent activists founded the Miatsum
(Unification) National Initiative which campaigns against Armenian territorial concessions to Azerbaijan over the Karabakh dispute.
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
n military commander and political
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
activist. Alternative spellings of his name include Jirayr Sefilyan and Zhirayr Sefilyan.
Biography
Sefilian graduated from the Kevork Chatalbashian College in BeirutBeirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
. During the Lebanese Civil War
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 230,000 civilian fatalities. Another one million people were wounded, and today approximately 350,000 people remain displaced. There was also a mass exodus of...
, he took part in the defense of the Armenian quarters
Bourj Hammoud
Bourj Hammoud is a suburb in North-East Beirut, Lebanon in the Metn district. The suburb is heavily populated by Armenians as it is where most survivors of the Armenian Genocide settled...
of Beirut.
In 1990, with the purpose of participating in the Karabakh
Karabakh
The Karabakh horse , also known as Karabakh, is a mountain-steppe racing and riding horse. It is named after the geographic region where the horse was originally developed, Karabakh in the Southern Caucasus, an area that is de jure part of Azerbaijan but the highland part of which is currently...
(Artsakh) movement he was sent to Armenia by A.R.F (Dashnaktsutyun), Sefilian moved to Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
with his family. As a military instructor, he was involved in the formation of self-defense units
Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army
The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Defense Army is the formal defense force of the unrecognized but de-facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic...
in Karabakh and Syunik
Syunik
Syunik is the southernmost province of Armenia. It borders the Vayots Dzor marz to the north, Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan exclave to the west, Karabakh to the east, and Iran to the south. Its capital is Kapan. Other important cities and towns include Goris, Sisian, Meghri, Agarak, and Dastakert...
. In 1991, as a military detachment commander, Sefilian took part in the defense of several districts of Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains...
. In 1992 he was Chosen by A.R.F to be the commander of the Shushi special military company, playing a significant role during the Battle of Shusha
Battle of Shusha
The Capture of Shusha , the Liberation of Shushi; Azeri: Şuşanın işğalı, the Occupation of Shusha) was the first significant military victory by Armenian forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave during the Nagorno-Karabakh War...
.
Following the Nagorno-Karabakh War
Nagorno-Karabakh War
The Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the small enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan...
, in 1997-1998 he was the NKR
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic , or Artsakh Republic is a de facto independent republic located in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia...
Defense Army Brigade Commander. Sefilian was awarded with the First Degree Order of “Martakan Khach” (Fighting Cross) military medals. He is an army lieutenant-colonel of the Republic of Armenia. Since 2001, Sefilian has been coordinating the activities of the public initiative group, "Liberated territories".
Sefilian and Vartan Malkhasian, the leaders of opposition group called the Alliance of Armenian Volunteers, were arrested in 2006. Human rights observers charged the arrest was politically motivated and that authorities used the controversial article of the Criminal Code to intimidate the opposition. Ombudsman
Ombudsman
An ombudsman is a person who acts as a trusted intermediary between an organization and some internal or external constituency while representing not only but mostly the broad scope of constituent interests...
of Armenia Armen Harutyunyan
Armen Harutyunyan
Armen Harutyunyan is the former ombudsman of Armenia and the current Regional Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Central Asia. He took office in February 2011.Harutyunyan was born in 1964 in Yerevan...
also condemned Sefilian's and his friends' arrest and marked that Sefilian, Vartan Malkhasian, and Vahan Aroyan "didnt break the judicial legislation".
According to Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n journalist, colonel Svetana Paskaleva, "Jirair is one of the living icons I knew - Bekor
Bekor Ashot
Ashot Hmayaki Ghulyan also known as Bekor was an Armenian military leader during the Nagorno-Karabakh War...
, Monte
Monte Melkonian
Monte Melkonian was a famed Armenian commander during Nagorno-Karabakh war. Melkonian had no prior service record in any country's army before being placed in command of an estimated 4,000 men in the war...
, Samvel Babayan
Samvel Babayan
Samvel Babayan was the Commander in Chief of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army from 1994 to 2000 and current leader of the Dashink political party in Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.- Early life and military career :...
... Im happy that I know him"!
2007 imprisonment and release
On August 6, 2007, Judge Mnatsakan Martirosyan of the Kentron and Nork Marash Court of First Instance found Sefilian not guilty of violating Article 301 of the Republic of Armenia Criminal Code (issuing anti-constitutional statements), but found him guilty of violating the first section of Article 235 of the Criminal Code (illegal possession of a weapon) and sentenced him to 1.5 years imprisonment.Sefilian has claimed his innocence and that no crime has been committed on his part: "This is not a court, this is a theater. Even the biggest supporter of the government cannot show evidence of corpus delicti
Corpus delicti
Corpus delicti is a term from Western jurisprudence referring to the principle that a crime must have been proven to have occurred before a person can be convicted of committing that crime. For example, a person cannot be tried for larceny unless it can be proven that property has been stolen...
in our actions. This is all an order. The NSS is working to the gain of two people (Robert Kocharyan and Serge Sargsyan). All those who had something to do with this case will eventually answer for it. The famous pair is foolishly trying to punish me and to scare the people. My dear people, we must not fear this anti-Armenian regime, we must struggle against it. This amoral regime is not powerful, we are powerful."
Sefilian completed his 18-month sentence on June 9, 2008 and was subsequently released from prison. He was greeted by hundreds of Armenians who came "to congratulate the hero on his liberty". However, Sefilian continues to face the threat of deportation from Armenia since May 2008 and has since begun seeking political asylum and citizenship in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic , or Artsakh Republic is a de facto independent republic located in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia...
. As of May 2008, Sefilian has been denied Armenian citizenship.
In his letters and announcements made from the prison, Jirair Sefilian supported former Armenian president and opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrossian
Levon Ter-Petrossian
Levon Ter-Petrossian , sometimes transliterated Levon Ter-Petrosyan or Ter-Petrosian , was the first President of Armenia from 1991 to 1998...
despite ideological differences with the latter, but later (in 2009) he criticized Ter-Petrossian's views on Armenia-Azerbaijan and Armenia-Turkey relations and suggested him to left the all-Armenian people's movement. On October 30, 2008, Sefilian alongside intellectuals and a group of prominent activists founded the Miatsum
Miatsum
Miatsum refers to the movement for the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of Soviet Azerbaijan to the Soviet Armenia during the late 1980s and early 1990s, which led to the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1992-1994....
(Unification) National Initiative which campaigns against Armenian territorial concessions to Azerbaijan over the Karabakh dispute.