Vazgen Saghatelyan has been placed under house arrest.

Vazgen Saghatelyan, the co-host of the "Imnemnimi" podcast, has been released from a pretrial detention facility, where he spent nearly five months.

As "Caucasian Knot" reported, in early January, a Yerevan court extended the arrest of "Imnemnimi" podcast co-authors Narek Samsonyan and Vazgen Saghatelyan for three months on charges of hooliganism. Following this decision, Narek Samsonyan announced an indefinite hunger strike, which he ended 15 days later on the recommendation of doctors. Samsonyan's lawyers reported a deterioration in his health; in early February, he was hospitalized and underwent surgery. Samsonyan had been under house arrest since February 19, and on March 24, the court replaced his house arrest with administrative supervision.

On April 2, the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction softened the pretrial detention measure for Vazgen Saghatelyan, co-author of the political podcast "Imnemnimi." The blogger was transferred from a pretrial detention facility to house arrest, Armenia Today reported.

Saghatelyan had been in custody for about five months, since November 13, Sputnik Armenia reports.

The conditions of Vazgen Saghatelyan's house arrest prohibit him from making public statements, noted lawyer Arsen Babayan, who represents the blogger.

"There is one advantage: there is no ban on communication. The only restriction concerns public statements, both written and oral," the Novosti-Armenia news agency quoted Babayan as saying.

A similar restriction was previously imposed under the conditions of administrative supervision for Narek Samsonyan.