Armenian playwright detained on charges of ‘inciting hatred’ over 2025 Facebo

Armenian writer, playwright, and actor Vahram Sahakyan has been detained on charges of inciting hatred over a Facebook post from early 2025.

Sahakyan is also a screenwriter, producer, composer, and director. He was named an Honoured Cultural Figure of Armenia in 2016 and co-founded the comedy theatre studio ‘Vozniner’ with satirist Vardan Petrosyan.

The Investigative Committee says that in January 2025 Sahakyan used information and communication technologies to publish a post on his Facebook page that incited and promoted hatred, intolerance and hostility. The Committee, which usually shares the content of the post when pressing charges, did not disclose which post it was. If found guilty, he could face between one to four years in prison.

The Yerevan Criminal Court placed Sahakyan under administrative supervision, his lawyer Ruben Melikyan said during a Facebook livestream.

‘An exception was made only for work-related posts, meaning only publications connected with theatrical activities are permitted’, said Melikyan.

The defence disputes the hate-incitement classification of the case. It is still unclear what Sahakyan wrote on Facebook that triggered charges.

This is not the first arrest over social media posts in recent years.  An Armenian lawyer was detained in 2025 after making a social media post criticising law enforcement and judicial officials involved in the arrest of a senior bishop.  In another case, a woman from Nagorno-Karabakh, Gayane Mesropyan, was arrested in March 2026 over a Facebook comment criticising Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Mesropyan’s comment, written under another person’s post in September 2025, contained the word ‘kill’, which authorities were investigating as possible incitement to violence.