CoE report warns of sustained pressure on press freedom, cites Armenian podcasters

The environment for journalism in Europe is becoming increasingly hostile, with media freedom remaining under sustained pressure in 2025 due to legal threats, physical attacks, intimidation and the misuse of detention, according to an annual report by the Council of Europe.

The report, published by partner organisations of the Council of Europe’s Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists, warns of the “systematic use of detention” as a tool to exert control over media actors across the continent.

As of Dec. 31, 2025, 148 journalists were in detention in Europe, the report said. Of those, 36 were held in Azerbaijan, 32 in Russia, 27 in Belarus, 26 were being held by Russia in occupied Ukrainian territories, 24 in Turkey, two in Armenia and one in Georgia.

For the first time, Armenia was recorded on the platform as a country with journalists in detention, following the pre-trial detention of opposition podcasters Vazgen Saghatelyan and Narek Samsonyan on hooliganism charges, the report said.

The Council of Europe’s platform had previously issued a Level 1 alert – its highest level, indicating the most serious interference with media freedom – over the arrests in Armenia.

According to the alert, on Nov. 13, 2025, officers of Armenia’s National Security Service detained Saghatelyan and Samsonyan, co-hosts of the Imnemnimi podcast aired on the YouTube channel of AntiFake TV. A third AntiFake journalist, Davit Fidanyan, was also detained and later released.

Masked security officers conducted searches of the podcasters’ homes and AntiFake’s offices. Authorities seized technical and journalistic equipment, including cameras, microphones, computers, tripods and data storage devices.

The alert cited a statement by the Armenian Center for Political Rights, a local civil society organisation, which raised concerns over the arrests and the confiscation of media property.