ArmInfo. A month has passed since the co-authors of the "Imnemimi" podcast, opposition public figures Narek Samsonyan and Vazgen Saghatelyan were illegally detained. the International Center on Development of Parliamentarism reported on its Facebook account.
According to the source, the political motivation to deprive them of their freedom is not denied even by the current authorities. So, on March 22 of this year, Samsonyan and Saghatelyan were detained and then arrested on charges of hooliganism. Moreover, the process of detention itself was carried out with the use of force, degrading the dignity and personal integrity of a person, with the use of extremely unreasonable and disproportionate violence.
According to the criminal prosecution initiated, Samsonyan and Saghatelyan are accused of committing a crime under Article 297 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia (hooliganism), that is, using information and communication technologies to show disrespect for society or open disdain for legal or moral norms. "The same norms that were demonstrated by humiliating a person and using obscene language addressed to them," the message says.
The source added that it is obvious to an unbiased observer that the editing of the mentioned crime is a primitive reproduction of the well-known crime of "serious crime", added to the RA Criminal Code by the ruling political force in July 2021 and then removed under international pressure, the purpose of which is to arbitrarily punish citizens who criticize the government.
"As a result of the mentioned simple legislative tricks, the ruling political power, apparently, tried to circumvent the requirement attributed to it by international structures regarding the fundamental rights of freedom of speech and information, and on the other hand, continue to punish oppositionists who criticize it with the help of criminal legal instruments. Samsonyan's arrest and Saghatelyan is obvious evidence of this goal. Moreover, this interpretation of this crime is in direct contradiction with the case law established by the European Court of Human Rights, according to which the permissible limits of critical statements against officials are much wider. In particular, in the Linges case. v. Austria" the ECtHR stated that the limits of permissible/acceptable criticism are wider than in the case of private individuals. These people inevitably and deliberately expose themselves to increased attention from journalists and the general public for their every statement and action and are therefore obliged to show a higher degree of tolerance . In the case of Gundem v. Turkey, the ECtHR stated that the authorities of a democratic state must tolerate criticism, even if it is provocative or offensive. In the case of Rodriguez v. Portugal, the ECtHR noted that the permissible limits of criticism of a public figure are wider than in the case of private individuals. In the case "Dalban v. Romania," the ECHR found it admissible to accuse the politician of corruption and misuse of public funds," the report emphasizes.
Its authors recall that on October 3, 2012, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted Resolution 1900, defining the concept of "political prisoner." According to the resolution, a person deprived of personal liberty is considered a political prisoner if the detention was applied in violation of any of the fundamental guarantees defined by the European Convention on Human Rights and its protocols. In the case of Samsonyan, the method of his detention, which humiliates his dignity and personal integrity, confirms the presence of this criterion. Moreover, it is obvious that if the detention of Saghatelyan had not been followed in chronological order by the publication of a video recording of Samsonyan's shameful imprisonment and its harsh criticism from human rights activists. A political prisoner is also a person whose length of detention is clearly disproportionate to the crime for which the person was found guilty.
Samsonyan and Saghatelyan were detained by law enforcement officers on March 22. Moreover, Samsonyan was detained with the use of brutal disproportionate force, degrading human dignity. Later it became known that Samsonyan was detained as part of a case being investigated by the Investigative Committee under the article "hooliganism committed by a group of persons using information technology." As it turned out, the hosts of the "Imnemnim" podcast were detained for voicing obscene language against Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan live. Both journalists are now under arrest.
