Epress.am News from Armenia
The Shengavit district court in Yerevan, presided over by judge Tatevik Grigoryan, today sentenced Founding Parliament opposition group leader, Karabakh war veteran Zhirayr Sefilyan to 10.5 years imprisonment. The other five defendants – Gevorg Safaryan, Sasunik Kirakosyan, Galust Grigoryan, Hrayr Topchyan and Hovhannes Petrosyan – were given prison sentences ranging from 2 to 5.5 years.
Upon hearing his sentence of 3.5 years’ imprisonment pronounced, defendant Nerses Poghosyan stood up from his seat and began swearing at prosecutor Hakob Yenokyan, which resulted in him being taken out of the courtroom by bailiffs and police officers. Zhirayr Sefilyan and Gevorg Safaryan (sentenced to 5.5 years behind bars), on the other hand, remained visibly calm as the judge read out the verdict. Later on Nerses Poghosyan’s lawyer Arayik Papikyan told reporters that at the moment of the announcement of the verdict Sefilyan had said to the court: “Bravo, good job! SImilar verdicts will soon be pronounced for you.”
“We were expecting this ruling. We never had any illusions about the court. Justice in Armenia died today, and March 20 should henceforth be marked [as a national mourning day]. Sefilyan had to be silenced because he posed a significant threat to the political leadership.” Papikyan said, adding that the defense intended to challenge the verdict at the Court of Appeal. “It’s a purely formal procedure that we need to go through before we are able to apply to an international court; we are not very hopeful that we’ll achieve justice here.”
Recall, Sefilyan was arrested last summer for having allegedly formed an armed group and plotting to organize an armed takeover of the capital’s main communication buildings. For that purpose, according to the indictment sheet, the oppositionist had organized an illegal acquisition and transport of weapons and ammunition and their storage in various locations in Yerevan. Sefilyan and his supporters, however, claim that he is being persecuted for his political views, namely, for opposing territorial concessions to Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.