12:01,

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. Armenian football star, Inter Milan midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan has joined his countrymen in demanding safe release of Ruben Vardanyan and all other Armenians detained in Azerbaijan.

“I join my fellow Armenians in demanding the safe release of Ruben Vardanyan and all other Armenians detained in Azerbaijan. As tens of thousands of families are fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh for safe refuge to Armenia, detention is becoming an alarming trend.

“Ruben Vardanyan stands out as an outspoken advocate for peace not only in our region but in the world. He is a world known philanthropist, businessman and co-founder of the Aurora Prize humanitarian initiative which advocates for peacebuilding and provides people around the world with education and healthcare,” Mkhitaryan said in a statement on Facebook.

Vardanyan, the co-founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative and former State Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), was arrested by Azeri border guards on September 27 while trying to leave Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia along with tens of thousands of forcibly displaced persons.

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention has warned that Ruben Vardanyan’s detention by Azerbaijani authorities poses a very high risk of torture and extrajudicial execution or a show trial.