Lawyer: Prosecutor seeks re-arrest of Vazgen Saghatelyan and Narek Samsonyan for livestream

The Prosecutor General’s Office seeks the re-arrest of opposition activists Vazgen Saghatelyan and Narek Samsonyan for going live on social media in an alleged violation of their pre-trial release terms, defense lawyer Arsen Babayan says.

The activists, who co-host the Imnemnimi podcast, were released on 21 May, two months after being detained on charges of “hooliganism” for using slur language to criticize Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his government over their plans to cede territories to Azerbaijan.

Citing its sources, Past.am reported on Saturday that Pashinyan had ordered the law enforcement authorities to again remand them in custody.

Babayan claims the court banned the two men from hosting the Imnemnimi podcast and other programs for three months, but they are free to express their opinion on social media.

“The prosecutor on Friday petitioned the court to detain Narek and Vazgen for three months, claiming they violated the pre-trial release by going live on social media,” the lawyer said.

Babayan reiterated that the activists had been charged under the decriminalized “grave insult” article as its content was wrapped in Article 297 of the Penal Code as “hooliganism”.

“The Prosecutor's Office has confirmed the claims we’ve been making for two and a half months. The motion says they are discussing political issues in live videos. The government seeks to ban programs addressing political topics, that's why they ordered the men’s detention,” he stated.