Simonian branded Narek Samsonian and Vazgen Saghatelian as “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.
No action was taken against Simonian, who is a leading political ally of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. The speaker similarly avoided prosecution for spitting at a Canadian-Armenian activist who branded him a “traitor” at a popular dining area of Yerevan in 2023.
Both Saghatelian and Samsonian strongly denied the accusations during the investigation and pleaded not guilty to them at the start of their trial in Yerevan. They said they are prosecuted for exercising their freedom of speech.
“I will never forget my disgraceful and illegal treatment accompanied by the intimidation of my children,” Samsonian told the court.
Armenia - NSS officers arrest pro-opposition podcasters Narek Samsonian (right) and Vazgen Saghatelian, November 13, 2025.
Meanwhile, the presiding judge granted a trial prosecutor’s request to extend the defendants’ arrest by three months. The prosecutor claimed that they could commit more “crimes,” go into hiding or bully a witness in the case if set free before the court verdict. Samsonian responded by saying that he is going on hunger strike in protest.
Dozens of other critics of Pashinian, including an opposition mayor and three archbishops of the Armenian Apostolic Church, have also been arrested in recent months in what the Armenian opposition calls a pre-election government crackdown on dissent. The authorities deny that they are political prisoners.
Also, prosecutors have reportedly been monitoring people posting angry comments about Pashinian on social media and have even ordered criminal investigations into some of them. No Pashinian allies or supporters 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 church whom Pashinian has been trying to depose. Law-enforcement authorities have not charged or even interrogated him so far.