Ruben Vardanyan

Ruben Vardanyan is an influential Armenian business leader, social entrepreneur, philanthropist, and human rights defender. He has been an outspoken advocate for the rights of the ethnic-Armenian population living in Nagorno-Karabakh, including their right to self-determination, and he briefly served as Nagorno-Karabakh’s Minister of State. He was arrested in September 2023 in the wake of Azerbaijan’s brutal ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh as he, like thousands of others, attempted to flee to Armenia. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.