Your trusted source

Political prisoner Vazgen Saghatelyan has blasted Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his regime for efforts to silence their critics in a letter from the Armavir Penitentiary. Vazgen Saghatelyan and Narek Samsonyan, opposition activists who co-host the Imnemnimi podcast, were arrested on charges of “hooliganism” in Yerevan last week and were given two-month pretrial detention.

The letter below was published by AntiFake on Wednesday.

"Back in 2019, Nikol Pashinyan, reassuring his supporters whom he would deceive in the future, said on live TV putting a smile on his face: “Why are you getting upset about the foul language used against me? You shouldn't. Let them continue to swear, the most important thing for me is that these swear words against me do not receive a positive response in society, because it will mean that we are doing something wrong, that we have something to think about.”

And when the war and disgraceful capitulation righteously triggered public outrage, Nikol decided to criminalize slur language against government officials under infamous Article 137.1 of the Criminal Code. It’s a pathetic attempt to escape from reality: hundreds of criminal cases (I faced 6 cases under this article alone), however, failed to deliver the desired results and the scruffy despot had to turn off comments on his Facebook posts and walk along the streets accompanied by dozens of bodyguards.

Later, in order to play up the fake "bastion of democracy", the supreme slob decriminalized insults, but the truth still hurts, especially when it is thrown in your face every day, whether in the streets, on Facebook or in TikTok, which has become your new refuge. This is the reason why the capitulator has decided to return to the tactic of “silencing people at all costs” he adopted in 2021.

A ridiculous article about “hooliganism” was used against me and Narek Samsonyan concerning the Imnemnimi podcast. Allegedly, by using the language against Nikol that he deserves, we "disturbed people's peace." The cheap steps to use brutal and unnecessary force to detain us demonstrate that the head of government is frightened. It’s a pathetic attempt to silence and isolate us.

I have to disappoint you, coward slob: I was not afraid of you in 2018, I was not afraid of you in 2021, and now that you are afraid of your own shadow, I will certainly not be afraid of you.

I am writing this letter from the Armavir prison, which is looking forward to welcoming you. Some day in the future, when you end up here, I will definitely visit you, look you in the eye and ask you with a smile: "Well, how are you, scruffy ***?”