Armenian Center for Political Rights condemns political persecution of AntiFake team

The Armenian Center for Political Rights on Friday issued a statement condemning the new political persecution of AntiFake team.

Vazgen Saghatelyan and Narek Samsonyan host the Imnemnimi podcast, which has a strong opposition stance. The podcast is broadcast via the social media platforms of the AntiFake.am website.

On November 13, the podcasters were arrested and subsequently detained for two months on charges of “hooliganism”. They are prosecuted for using insulting language during an episode of their podcast against National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan. The insults were a direct response to Simonyan’s similar expressions targeting the podcasters earlier.

Despite the decriminalization of insults in Armenia, charges of “hooliganism” are used to circumvent the decriminalization. The podcasters issued a clear disclaimer that profane language may be used during the episode, which rules out “hooliganism”, since the element of “overtly disrespectful attitude toward society” is a mandatory part of the corpus delicti.

Security officers conducted a search at the AntiFake’s premises and seized all technical equipment belonging to the podcasters, including cameras, microphones, computers and data storage devices. AntiFake journalist David Fidanyan was also arrested during the search.

“The detention of Saghatelyan, Samsonyan and Fidanyan constitutes a textbook example of political persecution. The entire process lacks any legal basis and is therefore driven by the political views of the individuals involved, as well as by AntiFake's opposition stance. Beyond violating their rights to liberty and freedom of expression under Articles 5 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the authorities have also breached Article 18, which prohibits restrictions on rights for purposes not prescribed by the Convention,” reads the statement.

The English version of the statement has been submitted to relevant international human rights bodies, including the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, the OSCE/ODIHR Director, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media and the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

The full text of the statement is available here.