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Political prisoner Vazgen Saghatelyan, co-host of the Imnemnimi podcast who is currently held in pre-trial detention in the Armavir Penitentiary, has penned an article hitting out at Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his regime for crackdown on their critics. Below is the full article published by the AntiFake media outlet on Thursday.

"In Armenian slang, there is a word “kontsovik", which refers to a man who has nothing to lose, who realizes his inevitable fall, is no longer afraid of anything and does not think about the consequences of his actions.

Nikol is a vivid example of such a man. He no longer seems to care about the opinion of the people or the international community. His approval rating can hit below 1%. Freedom House can find that there is no freedom of speech in Armenia. What does it matter if you will no longer be in power tomorrow? There is only one goal: to postpone this "tomorrow" by all possible means.

The ongoing judicial impunity and police permissiveness are indicators of this deferral. Nikol understands perfectly well that the earlier and the deeper his Civil Contract party cracks, the sooner he will end up in the place he deserves – for life.

Fears and cracks within the ruling party are obvious because not everyone is ready to stand by the wall waiting for responsibility, therefore it is necessary to motivate in every possible way the little Civil Contract members not to give up ahead of time.

If necessary, they are putting those who criticize and insult them behind bars or punishing those who publicly reprimand them. There is no lack of money and everything possible is being done to help them survive a little longer. The dose of defense has become something like a drug, increasing every day, dispelling the fears of the little Civil Contract members and turning them into "addicts" dependent on Nikol.

It is certainly a solution, but only a temporary one. The fears are mounting and "tomorrow" is gradually and inexorably turning into "today". Nikol feels this process with every cell of his fat body. This is the reason for his hysterical actions against the opposition.

Currently, I and a number of my friends are in detention, but we sleep well at night because we are not afraid of tomorrow, while Nikol and his teammates are afraid and rightly so because history never forgives traitors.”