Many Armenians are trying to find the answer to this question after the arrest of coordinator of the “Liberated Lands Defense” and commander of the Shushi squad Zh. Sefilyan.
Some think that this has something to do with the possibility of handing over the liberated lands of Karabakh, however many are of the opinion that Zh. Sefilyan was a danger to the current authorities in terms of losing power because in contrast to the current Armenian opposition, Sefilyan is actually doing something. Even secretary of political issues of the “Liberated Lands Defense” NGO Armen Aghayan had also expressed such an opinion.
“Everyone knows that during all previous elections in Armenia where the authorities have massively committed electoral fraud, political parties weren’t able to control the polls and make the corrections in the results because of their disorganization, clumsiness, irresponsibility of their members, non-professionalism and sometimes because they were bought,” said A. Aghayan. According to him, among other issues, the “Armenian Volunteers’ Union” (Zh. Sefilyan is one of the initiators) had raised the issue of controlling the situation on the part of the people that weren’t bought; it’s quite possible that the Armenian authorities realized that and tried to prevent it from the start before it the number of people didn’t grow. How do oppositionists feel after hearing the words “unorganized”, “clumsy”, “irresponsible”, “bought”, etc addressed to the opposition?
“I have defended Zhirair Sefilyan by saying that the methods used against him were undemocratic,” said leader of the ALPP Hovhannes Hovhannisyan. As for Aghayan’s announcement, Hovhannisyan said:
“I don’t think that anyone should throw stones at the opposition for a good or bad reason or give labels. We’re living in the 21st century and are progressing politically. I think that we’re not helping out by labeling or discrediting the opposition. What must the opposition do? Should it call on the people to come out to the streets? Now is not the time for that. There was a time when the opposition was making those calls. But now is not the time. The time will come and the opposition will make its decision.”
According to leader of the “New Times” party Aram Karapetyan, Zh. Sefilyan is a national activist and has never done anything antinational or against the government because the corresponding bodies have “never shown me or you anything to prove that”.
“We at “New Times” party have our opinion on this and why it’s happening. I will host a press conference soon and will bring up facts,” said the leader of “New Times”. Karapetyan also informed that some political parties, including “New Times” had suggested forming a defense committee in light of the anti-criminal movement to defend Zh. Sefilyan and Vartan Malkhasyan. A. Karapetyan is inclined to call that committee the political prisoners’ defense committee because he believes that “Arman Babajanyan and the others are political prisoners.”
“As far as I know, they called Gurgen Yeghiazaryan to the public prosecutor’s office and it’s quite possible that some things may happen there as well. There will be more and more political prisoners and that’s why there is a need for a committee, which will coordinate all the activities among the parties,” said the “New Times” leader.
As for representative of the Armenian Democratic Party Ruzan Khachatryan, she said that she perfectly understood the “hard, emotional time that the opposition is going through” in regard to Aghayan’s announcement about the opposition.
“But when they arrested me back in 2004, I didn’t ask anybody why they arrested me and not somebody else. If anyone is interested in finding out why they arrested Zh. Sefilyan, I must say that I don’t like to make predictions, especially bad predictions, but I think that this is just the beginning. I know the current authorities very well, how they are and the hard situation they are facing. I think that this was the first of many,” said Mrs. Khachatryan, recalling that until the arrest, oppositionists had been beaten, threatened and persecuted.
“In this case, this was the decision for Zhirair Sefilyan. It’s obvious that the authorities are starting with the dangerous ones first. Zh. Sefilyan was not your average Armenian citizen. He endangered his and his friends’ lives and has lived through war. One can set an example for many with his actions and make them follow with his words…Sefilyan has a reputation,” says R. Khachatryan. According to Khachatryan, this is one way of creating an environment where there is fear, to say “hey, if we arrested Zhirair Sefilyan, then we can arrest you and the others as well”. As for National Assembly deputy Hmayak Hovhannisyan, who informed that there are no new deputies who have joined his petition to release Zhirair Sefilyan, he mentioned that there was no intention to collect a large amount of signatures. “Our goal was to state the role that this just doesn’t correspond to the norms of a civilized state,” said H. Hovhannisyan, adding that the arrests of Zh. Sefilyan and V. Malkhasyan showed how weak the authorities are.