Armenian analyst says podcast crackdown signals government’s fears over growing public dissent

Panorama

An Armenian political analyst has said the shutdown of the opposition Imnemnimi podcast and the detention of its hosts reflect the government’s deepening insecurity about its legitimacy.

Commenting on the arrests of podcast co-hosts Narek Samsonyan and Vazgen Saghatelyan, political analyst Vladimir Martirosyan argued that authorities are using “legal and ethical pretexts” to suppress politically inconvenient speech rather than to protect public order.

Martirosyan said the authorities are reframing the case as an issue of offensive language to “strip away its political content”, adding that charges such as “hooliganism” are being employed to curb the spread of opposition narratives. He described the response as a sign of “informational fear” triggered when small independent platforms begin to accumulate public trust.

“A regime confident in its legitimacy does not fear speech,” he wrote, calling the pressure on the podcast a preventive move to contain expanding anti-government sentiments. Martirosyan added that ruling party leaders should be more concerned about failing to secure quorum in the parliament than about the podcast hosts.

Earlier on Thursday, masked security officers raided the homes of Samsonyan and Saghatelyan before arresting them on hooliganism charges rejected as politically motivated.