The court softened the measure of restraint for critics of the Armenian authorities.

A Yerevan court has transferred Vazgen Saghatelyan, the host of the "Imnemnimi" podcast, to administrative supervision after he was under house arrest on charges of hooliganism for his comments about the Speaker of the National Assembly.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," on April 2, a Yerevan court softened the pretrial detention measure for Vazgen Saghatelyan, co-author of the political podcast "Imnemnimi." The blogger was transferred to house arrest from a pretrial detention facility, where he had been held for approximately five months, since November 2025.

The court lifted Vazgen Saghatelyan's house arrest, Armenia Today reports, citing a post by lawyer Arsen Babayan, who represents the defendant.

"Vazgen Saghatelyan's house arrest has been lifted. The court has imposed administrative supervision as a preventive measure, banning Vazgen from public speaking," Babayan wrote on his Facebook page*. No further details were provided in the publication.

As of 9:10 AM Moscow time, the publication had garnered 216 likes, with eight terse comments.

Their authors unanimously expressed support for Saghatelyan and approved of the court's decision. "Finally," wrote Arman Suleimanyan. "I'm happy," stated Elza Hovhannisyan.

Samsonyan and Saghatelyan were previously acquitted in a similar case.

As a reminder, in early January, the court extended the pretrial detention of Samsonyan and Saghatelyan, after which Samsonyan announced an indefinite hunger strike. Fifteen days later, he ended the protest on the recommendation of doctors. His lawyers reported that Samsonyan's health had worsened, and in early February, he was hospitalized and underwent surgery. Samsonyan had been under house arrest since February 19, and on March 24, the court replaced his house arrest with administrative supervision.

Samsonyan and Saghatelyan had previously been persecuted for their comments about Armenian government officials. In March 2024, security forces detained them on suspicion of hooliganism. According to investigators, Samsonyan and Saghatelyan "intentionally committed hooliganism" during a podcast by "cursing and uttering obscene language toward members of the Armenian government and government officials." Both were arrested in connection with the insult case against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Lawyer Arsen Babayan stated that "Vazgen and Narek are political prisoners, arrested on charges of insult, which has long been decriminalized in Armenia." In May 2025, a Yerevan court acquitted both defendants.

Pre-trial detention for government critics eased amid election campaign

It should be noted that the court's decision on Saghatelyan's pre-trial detention was made ahead of the elections to the National Assembly of Armenia, scheduled for next Sunday. Meanwhile, amid preparations for the elections, the authorities have increased pressure on opposition supporters. On May 16, security forces detained 10 supporters of the Strong Armenia party, suspected of obstructing the ruling party's election campaign. Six of them were taken into custody, and four were placed under house arrest.

On May 22, NSS officers searched the office of the Mother Armenia party and the apartment of its leader, Andranik Tevanyan, who is second on the Prosperous Armenia party's list of candidates. Tevanyan is accused of treason and espionage. The court remanded him in custody for two months, allowing him to participate in the election process through representatives.

The June elections will effectively be a referendum on the future of the current government and Armenia's foreign policy, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "2026 Elections to the National Assembly (Parliament) of Armenia".