Jirair Sefilian

Jirair Simoni Sefilian (Ժիրայր Սիմոնի Սէֆիլեան (classical), Ժիրայր Սիմոնի Սեֆիլյան (reformed); born July 10, 1967) is a Lebanese-born Armenian military commander and political activist.

During the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, he commanded the Shushi special military battalion, playing a significant role during the Battle of Shusha.

During the Lebanese Civil War, he took part in the defense of the Armenian Quarters of Beirut (mainly Bourj Hammoud) from 1983 to 1990.

Sefilian graduated from Kevork Chatalbashian College in Beirut in 1986.

In 1990, with the purpose of participating in the Karabakh movement he was sent to Armenia by the ARF (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 commander of a military detachment, Sefilian took part in the defense of several districts of Nagorno-Karabakh.

In 1992 he was chosen by the ARF to be the commander of the Shushi special military company, playing a significant role during the Battle of Shusha.

He also participated in other battles, including the Capture of Aghdam, the Battle of Kalbajar, and the Mardakert and Martuni Offensives.

From 1997 to 1998 Sefilian was a Brigade Commander in the Artsakh Defence Army.

He has long campaigned against any territorial concessions to Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh and against Russian influence in Armenia.

Sefilian is one of the key figures of the Sasna Tsrer Pan-Armenian Party and the National Democratic Pole.

Following the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, Sefilian returned to Lebanon and was unable to return until 1997 due to the ban on the ARF at the time.

From 1997 to 1998 he was a Brigade Commander in the Artsakh Defense Army.

Sefilian was awarded with the First Degree Order of the Combat Cross (“Martakan Khach”).

He holds the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Armenian Army.

In 1999 he left the ARF.

Since 2001, Sefilian has been coordinating the activities of the public initiative group, "Liberated Territories Defense Committee".

Sefilian and Vartan Malkhasian, the leaders of opposition group called the Alliance of Armenian Volunteers, were arrested in 2006.

Human rights observers claimed that the arrest was politically motivated and that authorities used a controversial article of the criminal code to intimidate the opposition.

Ombudsman of Armenia Armen Harutyunyan also condemned Sefilian's and his friends' arrest and noted that Sefilian, Vartan Malkhasian, and Vahan Aroyan "didn't break the judicial legislation".

According to Armenian-Bulgarian journalist, Colonel Tsvetana Paskaleva, "Jirair is one of the living icons I knew - Bekor, Monte, Samvel Babayan… I'm happy that I know him!"

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 Armenia's 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 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 for the interests of two people (Robert Kocharyan and Serzh 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."

In 2012, the European Court of Human Rights fined the Armenian authorities for keeping Sefilian under pre-trial arrest without sufficient legal grounds.

According to the court, the National Security Service had illegally wiretapped Sefilian's phone conversations.

On January 31, 2015 Sefilian and other members of Founding Parliament were forcibly barred from entering the territory of the Republic of Artsakh.

The Karabakh police attacked the procession of about 30 cars.

More than two dozen people, including Sefilian, were injured.

As a result, the Karabakh president ordered a police inquiry into the incident.

On April 8, 2015 Armenian authorities arrested the leaders of the Founding Parliament opposition group seeking to launch antigovernment protests on April 24.

The National Security Service and the Investigative Committee of Armenia announced that “organization of mass disturbances at public places on April 24, 2015 has been thwarted as a result of their joint action". Sefilian and his three associates had their homes searched at the same day. Several human rights organizations of Armenia recognized them as political prisoners. The head of Armenian Helsinki committee Avetik Ishkhanyan called them prisoners of conscience, "because they did not take any action, they did not incite riots, but had only civil disobedience as their goal".

Sefilian and other leading members of the Founding Parliament were released from custody in May 2015 following a prosecutor's request to change the measure of restraint applied against them to a written affidavit not to leave the country.

On June 30, 2015 the Founding Parliament issued a statement claiming that unidentified individuals were following Sefilian for hours.

The political movement demanded Armenian law enforcement to identify the individuals following Sefilian.

On June 20, 2016, Jirair Sefilian was arrested again.

According to Armenia's Special Investigation Service, Jirair Sefilian and a group of people planned to seize buildings and communication facilities, including the Yerevan TV tower.

Varuzhan Avetisian, a senior New Armenia member, claimed that the opposition leader was arrested because he planned to campaign against Armenian territorial concessions to Azerbaijan.

On July 17, 2016 a group of armed men close to Sefilian stormed a district police headquarters in Yerevan, taking several hostages.

The armed group, calling itself Sasna Tsrer, demanded President Serzh Sargsyan's resignation and tried to negotiate Sefilian's release from prison.