Appeals court upholds Saghatelyan detention

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia’s Criminal Court of Appeal has upheld the detention of Vazgen Saghatelyan, co-author of the “Imnemnimi” podcast, leaving the previous ruling unchanged.

His lawyer, Arsen Babayan, announced the decision on his Facebook page.

“Unfortunately, Vazgen will remain in prison,” he wrote.

An appeal had been filed against the decision to extend Saghatelyan’s pre-trial detention by three months.

At a January 29 court hearing, where the public prosecutor presented the indictment, Saghatelyan stated that it was “an obvious political persecution unrelated to justice or law.”

On January 9, the court extended the detention of Narek Samsonyan and Vazgen Saghatelyan for three months. Following the ruling, Samsonyan declared an indefinite hunger strike. After 14 days, he ended the hunger strike and was transferred to the Izmirlian Medical Center.