LIVE: Lawyers of detained opposition podcasters hold press conference in Yerevan

A press conference by the legal team representing opposition activists and Imnemnimi podcast co-hosts Narek Samsonyan and Vazgen Saghatelyan has begun at the offices of AntiFake.am in Yerevan.

Samsonyan and Saghatelyan are currently in detention on charges of hooliganism, which their lawyers and independent experts describe as fabricated and politically motivated.

Vazgen Saghatelyan’s lawyer, Arsen Babayan, said that no sexual profanity had ever been used on air contrary to how the authorities are presenting the case.

Lawyer Ruben Melikyan highlighted that this was one of the few cases to have attracted international attention.

“From the outset, we stressed that even under these conditions, blatant violations against media workers would inevitably lead to an international response,” he said, recalling that in a previous case the team had received clear reactions from various human rights and journalistic organisations.