Nikol Pashinyan: court verdict against Zhirayr Sefilyan is political  violence

ArmInfo. The verdict of the court  against the hero of the Artsakh war Zhirayr Sefilyan is a political  reprisal. Nikol Pashinyan, head of the Elk faction, told journalists  on March 23.

Pashinyan noted that the false judicial system makes false verdicts,  and there is nothing to be surprised. The MP also said that to  tolerate this situation is not in the style of the "Elk" faction, and  stated that he intends to fight the current political system in order  to change the situation in the country in all areas.

The vice speaker of the parliament, the Republican Party's press  secretary Eduard Sharmazanov, in a conversation with the ArmInfo  correspondent noted that there were no political prisoners in  Armenia, and that all court decisions are exclusively legal. "There  can not be any political violence in this case, there was never any  political motivation in this trial." Judges in Armenia render all  decisions based solely on the materials of the case," Sharmazanov  stressed.

The secretary of the faction of the ARF "Dashnaktsutyun" party Aghvan  Vardanyan stated that no one forgets about the heroic past of Zhirayr  Sefilyan, however "different politicians show themselves differently  at different periods of their life." At the same time Vardanyan  refused to give any assessment to the verdict of the court regarding  his former party member.

Zhirayr Sefilyan, the hero of the Artsakh war, known for his  opposition, was sentenced to 10.5 years of imprisonment on March 20,  his companion-in-arms Gevorg Safaryan to 5, the remaining accused for  4 years of imprisonment. Sefilyan, was accused of illegal  acquisition, storage and use of weapons and ammunition. Sefilyan  himself regarded the trial of him as a political reprisal.  International experts also revealed numerous violations of the law in  the course of the trial in the case of Sefilyan. In support of  Sefilyan, public organizations of the Diaspora and Armenia, as well  as the Heritage party, also spoke.