Two bloggers were detained in Armenia. Hey, human rights activists, where are you?

This morning in Yerevan, two local podcasters — Narek Samsonyan and Vazgen Saghatelyan — were detained in a rather demonstrative manner.

The incident followed a public altercation between the bloggers and Parliament Speaker Alain Simonyan. After the podcasters criticized Simonyan, he responded with an offensive remark. In their next episode, Samsonyan and Saghatelyan addressed his words, apparently without using profanity, yet Simonyan filed a police complaint, accusing them of insult and threat.

Early today, riot police arrived at their homes and offices, conducting searches. Armenian media outlets note that this case might go beyond Simonyan himself — some reports suggest that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan personally listened to the controversial podcast episode.

What stands out is the silence of international human rights organizations — Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders, Amnesty International. Their absence in commenting on this situation raises questions about selective advocacy and the consistency of defending freedom of speech.