'Political repression': Lawyer slams opposition activist's arrest
Human rights lawyer Ruben Melikyan has denounced the arrest of opposition activist Narek Samsonyan as “politically motivated”.
Samsonyan, a vocal critic of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government, was brutally taken away by police officers near his home in Yerevan on Friday morning.
“This is yet another case of an opposition figure’s arrest in retaliation for free speech,” Melikyan said in a Facebook live video, adding the activist is facing fabricated charges of “hooliganism” punishable by up to five years in jail.
“Narek Samsonyan’s prosecution is aimed at closing the Imnemnimi podcast, which claims to be a powerful opposition platform,” he noted. “This is a direct blow to freedom of speech and amounts to political repression.”
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