{"id":45269,"date":"2026-03-12T19:26:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T19:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/media.am\/?p=45269"},"modified":"2026-03-12T19:26:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T19:26:31","slug":"coe-report-journalists-detained-in-armenia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/viewpoint\/2026\/03\/12\/45269\/","title":{"rendered":"CoE Report: Journalists Detained In Armenia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Armenia has been included in the list of countries that detain journalists and media workers.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the annual report<\/a> published by the Council of Europe and its partner organization, the Platform for the Safety of Journalists, as of December 31, 2025, there are two journalists detained in Armenia.<\/span><\/p>\n

Experts say that Armenia appeared on this list due to the detention of Vazgen Saghatelyan and Narek Samsonyan, co-authors of the “Imnemnimi” podcast.<\/p>\n

According to Ashot Melikyan, Chairman of the Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression (CPFE), insults and profanity were heard on the air of “Imnemnimi”, which is condemnable, but “the authorities responded with a disproportionately harsh measure” by arresting them.<\/p>\n

“Two podcasters are now behind bars, a situation that certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed by the West. There are numerous instances around the world where journalists are arrested, and baseless criminal charges are filed against them to suppress their voices. Consequently, the platform is closely monitoring these incidents from that viewpoint. Now, in Armenia, these people have ended up behind bars for expressing their views. This reality should urge the authorities to rethink their methods. While it is true that freedom of speech can be misused, imprisoning people for months is an excessive response to address violations of the law,” said Ashot Melikyan.<\/p>\n

Boris Navasardyan, Honorary President of the Yerevan Press Club, expressed his agreement that the strict measures applied to the podcast hosts are unacceptable. He suggested that this action raises concerns about political motives, speculating that their voices posed a threat to the authorities.<\/p>\n

Vazgen Saghatelyan and Narek Samsonyan are podcast hosts, not professional journalists. This raises a question about whether it is appropriate for non-journalists to be included on the list of detained journalists. Experts have pointed out that the line between those actively working in media and professional journalists has become increasingly blurred.<\/p>\n

“I believe that journalists are individuals who see it as their responsibility to adhere to the principles of journalistic ethics in their work. If someone identifies as a journalist but fails to uphold these ethical standards, I no longer consider them a journalist. However, it is important to recognize that in our technologically advanced environment, the lines between journalists and non-journalists have blurred and often no longer exist. Bloggers, YouTubers, and influencers primarily serve as information providers and are often seen as such. While they may have a larger audience and address issues that resonate more with the public than traditional journalists do, this does not justify the use of profanity in public discourse,” stated Ashot Melikyan.<\/p>\n

Boris Navasardyan noted that there is no clear definition of who qualifies as a journalist. He explained that individuals who present content in the information environment and have an audience can be regarded as journalists. “Analyzing and interpreting events, as well as presenting them regularly and on a set schedule, can be seen as journalism. There are no substantial grounds to argue that they are not journalists,” stated the honorary president of the YPC.<\/span><\/p>\n

He believes that the events occurring in Armenia should be viewed in the context of the pre-election period. Anyone who has seen the arrest of the podcast\u2019s co-hosts might fear they could find themselves in a similar situation. Therefore, Navasardyan argues that these developments do not promote freedom of expression.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Armenia has been included in the list of countries that detain journalists and media workers. According to the annual report published by the Council of Europe and its partner organization, the Platform for the Safety of Journalists, as of December 31, 2025, there are two journalists detained in Armenia. Experts say that Armenia appeared on Read the full article…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":186,"featured_media":45231,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[212,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-post","category-viewpoint","author_posts-tigranuhi-martirosyan-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/186"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45269"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45272,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45269\/revisions\/45272"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}