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Charges Against Sefilyan Based on Unsubstantiated Allegations, Lawyer Insists

The law enforcement system of Armenia for over two years used all of its resources – the National Security Service, the Investigative Committee, the Special Investigation Service, the Police – to bring criminal charges against opposition Founding Parliament movement leader and Karabakh war veteran Zhirayr Sefilyan. The criminal case, however, wouldn’t go anywhere for a year because there was no evidence to substantiate Sefilyan’s arrest, the oppositionist’s lawyer Arayik Papikyan announced on Friday in court during a 5-hour closing speech.

“Sefilyan was finally arrested on May 20, 2016, a day after an interview with Gala TV, in which he had made criticizing statements about Serzh Sargsyan. Not only Sefilyan, but also law enforcement officials could get away with that,” Papikyan said.

In the above-mentioned interview, Sefilyan, who was the commander of the Shushi special military battalion during the Nagorno-Karabakh war, talked about Republican Party leader and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan’s participation in the war: “I have spoken about Serzh Sargsyan’s participation in the war on multiple occasions… He was basically a warehouse manager and was busy taking bribes and making connections to later build a career on. […] As we’ve have repeatedly said, this person is neither adequate nor suitable for the position he holds. He is only interested in ensuring he remains in power and in a position to plunder the country further.”

In January, 2016, Papikyan said in his speech, Sefilyan was summoned by investigators for alleged questioning, however, the real purpose behind the meeting was “to threaten him to end his political activities.” It was no coincidence, the lawyer went on, that sniper Smbat Galoyan on January 14 submitted a letter of resignation from the Defense Ministry and subsequently planted himself among Sefilyan’s friends “to create new evidence” by offering them his and 300 other armed men’s services. “There are 3 snipers involved in this case… It turns out that Defense Ministry snipers are simultaneously both National Security Service agents and criminals,” Papikyan stated.

The illegal investigative actions against Sefilyan, he continued, began back in February 2015, when he was accused by the authorities of organizing the “100th Anniversary Without the Regime” opposition initiative on the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in preparation of mass riots. According to Papikyan, in 2015-2016, Sefilyan’s phone was being tapped by the Armenian security forces and the oppositionist himself was being watched without corresponding court decisions.

The lawyer went on to insist that “all the so-called evidence” appeared in the case thanks to Galoyan and one other suspect Hovhannes Petrosyan. Petrosyan, note, was the only defendant who testified against Sefilyan in court, stating that Sefilyan had personally given him “the weapons for the revolution.” According to Papikyan, the prosecution, which has demanded an 11-year jail sentence for Sefilyan, has failed to find any other evidence to support these allegations “because they are not interested in the truth, they merely want to somehow verify the charges.”