Vazgen Saghatelyan and Narek Samsonyan greeted with applause at Yerevan court

Political prisoners Narek Samsonyan and Vazgen Saghatelyan were greeted with applause and chants of "freedom" as they entered a courtroom of the Yerevan Criminal Court for preliminary hearings in their case on Tuesday.

A large number of experts, public and political figures are in attendance.

Vazgen Saghatelyan and Narek Samsonyan, co-hosts of the Imnemnimi podcast, were given two-month pretrial detention on 22 March on charges of hooliganism after using slur language to criticize Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his government for their plans to cede territories to Azerbaijan. If found guilty, they could face up to five years in prison.