March in support of Ruben Vardanyan to be held in Yerevan
A march will be held in Yerevan on Saturday in a show of support for Ruben Vardanyan, a prominent Armenian businessman and philanthropist who briefly served as Artsakh's (Nagorno-Karabakh) state minister.
The march kicks off at 3 p.m. local time near the Matenadaran in Yerevan’s Kentron district, Ruben Hayrapetyan, former head of the State University of Economics, said in a statement on Friday.
“Taking into account Ruben Vardanyan's authority and his high-profile case, this is yet another opportunity to speak out again and demand the return of all abducted and captured Armenians,” he added.
Vardanyan was abducted and arrested by Azerbaijani border guards as he attempted to leave Artsakh for Armenia on Wednesday.
Azerbaijan’s State Security Service announced on Thursday that he had been charged with "financing terrorism, participating in the creation and operation of illegal armed groups and illegally crossing Azerbaijan's state border".