Two hosts of the ‘Imnemnimi’ podcast, Narek Samsonyan and Vazgen Saghatelyan, were detained today following searches of their homes, the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia confirmed.
The arrests come after a criminal case was launched under Armenia’s hooliganism statute. The Investigative Committee said urgent investigative measures had been carried out at the residences of the two hosts.
Parliamentary Speaker Alen Simonyan told reporters that he had submitted a formal report to law enforcement agencies accusing the podcasters of making threats in their programme. He said: ՛If a threat is made, what should I do? I couldn’t simply ignore it. And I will continue to report such incidents in the future’.
The war of words between them started after the hosts’ interview of Armenia’s ex-President Serzh Sargsyan. Following that episode, Simonyan publicly insulted the hosts, calling them ‘sons of dogs’ in a social-media post.
In response, the podcasters referred to Simonyan as an ‘animal’ during a subsequent broadcast and directed sexually explicit insults.
According to the hosts’ lawyer, masked officers entered Saghatelyan’s home and Samsonyan’s apartment this morning, conducting searches without allowing the pair access to their lawyers. Samsonyan was then taken into custody and later transferred to the Investigative Committee’s detention centre.
The detentions follow an episode of the podcast aired on 10 November, in which the hosts addressed Simonyan and used offensive language directed towards him.
In a press statement earlier today, the Investigative Committee confirmed only that criminal proceedings are underway and declined to provide further details, citing an active investigation.
Neither Samsonyan nor Saghatelyan have been publicly charged yet, and detention hearings are scheduled for later today.
The lawyers for the hosts say they have not been able to obtain full documentation of the complaint filed by the Speaker, and the podcasters’ office was also searched.
In March 2024, Saghatelyan and Samsonyan were detained on charges of hooliganism after insulting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and other figures from the ruling party. They were acquitted of the charges in May 2025.
OC Media
