Tom Catena, who won the 2017 Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity, issued a video today calling on the international community to release Ruben Vardanyan and all Armenian prisoners unjustly held in Azerbaijani prisons.

Hello, I’m Tom Catena, the Medical Director of the Mother of Mercy Hospital here in the Nuba Mountains of southern Sudan. With this short video, I’m expressing my support for my friend Ruben Vardanyan, who has been unjustly held in an Azerbaijani prison for over a year.

I’ve known Ruben since 2017, when I was awarded the Aurora Prize for Humanitarian Action for my work in Sudan. As the President of the Aurora Prize Initiative, I’ve gotten to know Ruben quite well over the years. We’ve traveled together quite often on projects. I know Ruben as an exceptionally fair and honest person. And anyone who knows Ruben knows that all the accusations that have been made against him are completely false and ridiculous.

Ruben had gone to Artsakh to help the government and population there, fully aware of all the risks of going there, and despite this, he decided to go. I call on the international community, I call on all people of good will to demand the release of both Ruben and all Armenian prisoners who are unjustly held in Azerbaijani prisons.