Republican Party of Armenia urges international legal organizations  to recognize the arrested bloggers as political prisoners

ArmInfo. The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) has urged  the international community,  specifically, the European Union, the Council of Europe, and all  relevant  bodies, to officially recognize the arrested bloggers  as  political prisoners, as noted in a statement posted by the political  party on its Facebook page.

Specifically, this concerns the arrests of Imnemnim podcast hosts  Narek Samsonyan and Vazgen Saghatelyan, as well as AntiFake.am   journalist David Fidanyan. The party called the actions against them  a clear act of political persecution. The Republican Party of Armenia  (RPA) also condemned the repressive actions against the fact-checking  and information website Antifake.am, considering it an act aimed at  the destruction of opposition platforms and a blatant manifestation  of violence against the free press. "This affirms that these events  are not mere accidental occurrences but are direct expressions of  long-standing authoritarian tendencies in the country, which confirm  the regime's intention to rule through fear and pressure.  In this  regard, we demand the immediate release of all political prisoners,  including Narek Samsonyan, Vazgen Saghatelyan, Davit Fidanian, and  all those imprisoned on political grounds," the party's statement  reads.

The RPA has called for a response to these violations guided by the  principles of the Armenian Constitution, thereby reaffirming the  inalienable right of the Armenian people to have a government that  respects the principles of the rule of law and upholds the  international obligations undertaken to guarantee human rights. 

"Concerned about the illegal and systemic nature of the current  regime's actions aimed at destroying democratic institutions and  suppressing the opposition in every possible way, and noting  that  the principle "everything is allowed to the regime," while "nothing  is allowed to the opposition," is becoming entrenched in political  life, we call for the official recognition of these individuals as  political prisoners. We also urge to publicly condemn the Armenian  authorities for systematic violations of fundamental freedoms and  apply effective, including targeted sanctions, against the officials  and judges involved in these pressures," the RPA statement reads.