Lawyer Arsen Babayan on Thursday accused Arayik Harutyunyan, chief of the prime minister’s staff, of making false statements about the criminal case against detained opposition podcasters Narek Samsonyan and Vazgen Saghatelyan.
Babayan, who represents Saghatelyan, said Harutyunyan had repeatedly made “unfounded and misleading claims” in a televised interview with Factor TV on Wednesday regarding the reasons for their detention.
Harutyunyan claimed the co-hosts of the Imnemnimi podcast were being prosecuted and held in pre-trial detention over sexually explicit insults they allegedly issued on air. Babayan rejected the assertion, saying neither Samsonyan nor Saghatelyan had ever used sexual slurs during the podcast episodes.
He said the comments by Harutyunyan and other government officials were “deliberate attempts to influence the investigative bodies and the courts”.
Samsonyan and Saghatelyan were detained on November 13 after masked National Security Service officers searched their homes. The arrests followed a complaint filed by National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan. A court later ordered two months of pre-trial detention for both men.
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