Narek Samsonian and Vazgen Saghatelian are prosecuted for verbally abusing parliament speaker Alen Simonian in response to his personal insults. Simonian branded them “sons of a b*tch” when he commented on their seven-hour interview with former President Serzh Sarkisian broadcast live on YouTube in early November. Samsonian and Saghatelian responded to him with offensive language.
Simonian demanded criminal proceedings against them on November 11, saying that they not only insulted but also threatened him. Two days later, officers of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) demonstratively detained the two podcasters, searching their homes and their Imnemnimi podcast studio in the process. Another law-enforcement agency, the Investigative Committee, swiftly charged them with hooliganism.
The two men continued to strongly deny the accusation as they went on trial on January 9. Samsonian announced his hunger strike in the courtroom right after the presiding judge extended his and Saghatelian’s arrest by three months.
Samsonian was rushed to a hospital in the Armenian town of Vagharshapat on Sunday after what his collaborators described as a serious deterioration of his health. He was taken back to prison after undergoing a medical examination there.
Kamo Manukian, the chief medical official of Armenia’s national penitentiary system, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Monday that his life is not in danger. Still, he said the hunger striker needs to undergo a surgery recommended by doctors.
“His organism is exhausted in addition to a serious health problem. A combination of these two circumstances poses a serious health risk to his life,” insisted Astghik Matevosian, a lawyer and the editor of an anti-government website founded by Samsonian.
Matevosian spoke to reporters as she and other friends and supporters of the outspoken podcaster rallied outside the office of Armenia’s human rights ombudswoman, Anahit Manasian, to condemn what they called her indifference to Samsonian’s fate.
An aide to Manasian denied this when he emerged from the building to invite the protesters’ representatives to a meeting with the ombudswoman.
“We have not received any complaints or applications related to this matter, but work has been carried out on the human rights defender's own initiative,” the official told them. In particular, he said, Manasian has demanded from law-enforcement authorities information about Samsonian’s condition and medical aid provided to him.
No political allies or supporters of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian are known to have been prosecuted for offending or voicing threats against opposition politicians. Late last month, one government loyalist publicly called for the murder of Catholicos Garegin II, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church whom Pashinian has been trying to depose. He has not been charged or even interrogated.