Jirair Sefilyan's Arrest Was Prolonged

[Kalashian Nyrie]

JIRAIR SEFILYAN'S ARREST WAS PROLONGED

Lragir, Armenia
Dec 13 2006

On December 12 Justice Gayaneh Karakhanyan of the First Instance Court
of Center and Nork-Marash sanctioned the National Security Service
to arrest Jirair Sefilyan for two months. The leader of the Civic
Action for Defense of Liberated Territories, member of the Movement
for Consolidation of Armenian Volunteers and the board of trustees
of Arax-Kura Foundation for Resettlement and Development was arrested
on a charge of plotting a coup.

The practice of law in Armenia shows that the court sittings for
sanctions for arrest hardly ever last longer than 30 monites, however,
in Jirair Sefilyan's case the sitting lasted for 8 hours, from 15-20
to 23.30. The reasons are not known.

The sanction for the arrest of Vardan Malkhasyan detained on the
same charge was given by the First Instance Court of Erebuni and
Nubarashen. If in the case of Jirair Sefilyan the sitting of the
court lasted for 8 hours, in Vardan Malkhasyan's case the family
and friends were told that the sitting had been cancelled, whereas
late in the evening they learned that the sitting had taken place at
midday, and the court had sanctioned the arrest of Vardan Malkhasyan
for two months.