1. Jirair Simoni Sefilian is a Lebanese-born Armenian military commander and political activist.
19 Facts About Jirair Sefilian
1. 2.
From 1997 to 1998 Sefilian was a Brigade Commander in the Artsakh Defence Army.
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Jirair Sefilian is one of the key figures of the Sasna Tsrer Pan-Armenian Party and the National Democratic Pole.
4.
Jirair Sefilian graduated from Kevork Chatalbashian College in Beirut in 1986.
5.
In 1990, with the purpose of participating in the Karabakh movement he was sent to Armenia by the ARF, Jirair Sefilian moved to Armenia with his family.
6.
In 1991, as a commander of a military detachment, Jirair Sefilian took part in the defense of several districts of Nagorno-Karabakh.
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Jirair Sefilian participated in other battles, including the Capture of Aghdam, the Battle of Kalbajar, and the Mardakert and Martuni Offensives.
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Jirair Sefilian was awarded with the First Degree Order of the Combat Cross.
9.
Jirair Sefilian holds the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Armenian Army.
10.
Since 2001, Jirair Sefilian has been coordinating the activities of the public initiative group, "Liberated Territories Defense Committee".
11.
On July 17,2016 a group of armed men close to Jirair Sefilian stormed a district police headquarters in Yerevan, taking several hostages.
12.
Jirair Sefilian was released from prison on June 13,2018, shortly after the 2018 Armenian revolution.
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Jirair Sefilian completed his 18-month sentence on June 9,2008, and was released from prison.
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Jirair Sefilian continued to face the threat of deportation from Armenia and began seeking political asylum and citizenship in the Republic of Artsakh.
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On 8 May 2013, Jirair Sefilian claimed in an interview that Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan had a very small role in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and accused them of corruption.
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Jirair Sefilian was the leader of the Founding Parliament opposition group.
17.
In September 2018, Jirair Sefilian participated in the founding of the Sasna Tsrer Pan-Armenian Party together with his political allies, including participants in the 2016 Yerevan hostage crisis.
18.
In May 2020, Jirair Sefilian signed a declaration called for snap elections and the formation of a new government, which was followed by the founding of the National Democratic Pole, a political alliance including Sasna Tsrer.
19.
Jirair Sefilian has called for Armenia to prepare for a new war to recover the territories lost to Azerbaijan during the 2020 war and conquer new territories from Azerbaijan.