Sefilian has lived in Armenia and Karabakh for nearly two decades, having played a major part in the 1991-1994 war with Azerbaijan. He retired from the Karabakh military in the rank of lieutenant-colonel and moved to Yerevan in the late 1990s. He has since actively campaigned any territorial concessions to Azerbaijan.
Sefilian was arrested in late 2007 and subsequently sentenced to 18 months in prison controversial charges of illegal arms possession. His Alliance of Armenian Volunteers (HKH) supported opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian in the February 2008 presidential election.
The nationalist activist applied for Armenian citizenship shortly after his release from jail in June last year. President Serzh Sarkisian turned down the application last November.
The refusal led Sefilian to ask Armenian immigration authorities to grant him a ten-year residency permit, to which foreign nationals of Armenian descent are entitled under Armenian law. The Department of Visas and Passports (OVIR) of the Armenian police refused to grant the request.
The OVIR confirmed on Tuesday that it has also rejected Sefilian’s application for a one-year residency permit which he filed shortly before the expiry of his four-month Armenian visa on April 5. The head of the police department, Norayr Muradkhanian, refused to give the reason for the rebuff. “Our law on foreigners stipulates that explanations of the reasons for [residency] refusals may not be given,” he told RFE/RL.
Sefilian believes that the decision was politically motivated. “There was already talk of my deportation [from Armenia] when I was in prison,” he said. “I also heard such talk in the days following my arrest.”
“They warned me that if I continue my dissident activities after getting out of jail they will deport me. So I’m not surprised with what’s going on. The persecution continues,” he told RFE/RL.
The only obstacle to Sefilian’s deportation now is a legal provision that bars the authorities from expelling foreign citizens who have underage children living in Armenia.
Sefilian was arrested in late 2007 and subsequently sentenced to 18 months in prison controversial charges of illegal arms possession. His Alliance of Armenian Volunteers (HKH) supported opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian in the February 2008 presidential election.
The nationalist activist applied for Armenian citizenship shortly after his release from jail in June last year. President Serzh Sarkisian turned down the application last November.
The refusal led Sefilian to ask Armenian immigration authorities to grant him a ten-year residency permit, to which foreign nationals of Armenian descent are entitled under Armenian law. The Department of Visas and Passports (OVIR) of the Armenian police refused to grant the request.
The OVIR confirmed on Tuesday that it has also rejected Sefilian’s application for a one-year residency permit which he filed shortly before the expiry of his four-month Armenian visa on April 5. The head of the police department, Norayr Muradkhanian, refused to give the reason for the rebuff. “Our law on foreigners stipulates that explanations of the reasons for [residency] refusals may not be given,” he told RFE/RL.
Sefilian believes that the decision was politically motivated. “There was already talk of my deportation [from Armenia] when I was in prison,” he said. “I also heard such talk in the days following my arrest.”
“They warned me that if I continue my dissident activities after getting out of jail they will deport me. So I’m not surprised with what’s going on. The persecution continues,” he told RFE/RL.
The only obstacle to Sefilian’s deportation now is a legal provision that bars the authorities from expelling foreign citizens who have underage children living in Armenia.