Armenian security forces conduct searches at Armat Media

ArmInfo.  Armenian security forces are conducting searches at Armat Media. According to media reports, the media outlet is affiliated with the team of Strong  Armenia party leader Samvel Karapetyan and is owned by party member  Alik Aleksanyan.  According to editor Nelly Avetisyan, security  forces have seized computers and digital equipment from an Armenian  media outlet, effectively stripping the publication of its  operational archives.

" Speaking to reporters, Avetisyan revealed that law enforcement targeted workstations containing critical video recordings and research materials. "The publication no longer has an archive to conduct its work. They dismantled the computers and  confiscated our memory cards," she stated.

According to Avetisyan, the seized hardware contained extensive  investigative materials and research regarding the potential  resettlement of 300,000 Azerbaijanis to Armenia. She expressed strong  conviction that the raids were strategically timed to suppress this  data.  "That is precisely why they targeted the computers," Avetisyan  argued. "This is a deliberate attempt to prevent us from publishing  materials that directly impact the future of the Armenian people and  carry significant political weight."

She emphasized that the loss of the equipment has halted the  publication of crucial, finalized reports.  "There remains  unpublished information and completed reports that exist nowhere else  except on those hard drives. As a result, we are currently blocked  from sharing these materials with the public," the editor concluded.   Avetisyan noted that Armenian citizens were supposed to see these  reports before the parliamentary elections in Armenia on June 7,  2026. She said that the searches followed a debate on Public  Television (during which party political council member Narek  Karapetyan once again raised the issue of the risk of Azerbaijanis  resettling in Armenia - ed.). "We thought they wouldn't cross that  red line. This is the current government's fight against free media  and freedom of speech," Avetisyan stated.

Another editor, Aghavni Sukiasyan, reported that the searches were  being conducted by representatives of the Investigative Committee of  Armenia and the National Security Service. She noted that not a  single lawyer was present, and that the publication's employees'  phones were also seized during the searches.  "This has completely  undermined our work. They stole two computers and confiscated all the  phones.  Many employees gave their passwords so  their devices could  be examined on the spot, but the authorities refused to return them,"  Sukiasyan said. She added that  the court-authorized search was  executed in connection with a criminal case involving Alik  Aleksanyan, a member of the "Strong Armenia" party.

 Marianna Ghahramanyan, press secretary of the Strong Armenia party,  also responded to the situation. She characterized the raid at Armat  Media as a direct manifestation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's  political anxiety. "Pashinyan lost the public debate yesterday and  now he's lashing out at the media. This is an attack on freedom of  speech, but the end will come in two days," Ghahramanyan wrote on her  Facebook page.