American lawmakers ask US government to declare Binance executive ‘wrongfully detained’ in Nigeria

American lawmakers have submitted a resolution asking the United States government to declare Tigran Gambaryan, Binance’s executive, as a ” U.S. citizen wrongfully detained by a foreign government”.

Rich McCormick and French Hill submitted the resolution to the committee on foreign affairs of the congress, on July 10.

Gambaryan has been in detention since February 28, when he was arrested by Nigeria’s government together with his colleague, Nadeem Anjarwalla, the Binance regional manager for Africa, who escaped custody in March.

On June 5, US lawmakers had accused the Nigerian government of taking the Binance executive, “hostage”, urging President Joe Biden to help secure his release.

Prior to this, two members of the congress had paid a visit to Gambaryan in the Kuje correctional centre on June 21.

In the latest resolution, lawmakers urged “Nigeria to immediately release Tigran Gambaryan from imprisonment”.

The lawmakers urged the US government to use all resources available to secure the release of Gambaryan, and to raise his case and press for his immediate release in all interactions with the government.

In the resolution, they also urged the government to formally declare Tigran Gambaryan as a “U.S. citizen wrongfully detained by a foreign government” pursuant to section 302 (a) of the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741 (a)

The lawmakers called on the Nigerian government “to provide full, unfettered, and consistent consular access, in accordance with its international obligations, to Tigran Gambaryan while he remains in detention”.

Furthermore, they asked Nigeria’s government to make available unrestricted medical access to Gambaryan and ensure he is “swiftly provided all medical care, including prescriptions and antimalarials, as needed”.

The resolution called on the “Government of Nigeria to provide Tigran Gambaryan and all other political prisoners their constitutionally afforded due process rights and universally recognized human rights”.

The politicians also expressed sympathy for and solidarity with the executive’s wife, Yuki Gambaryan, and his entire family.

They also empathised with all other citizens of the US and lawful permanent residents “wrongfully detained abroad” for “the personal hardship experienced as a result of the arbitrary and baseless arrest and detention of their loved ones”.

On June 14, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) dropped its tax charges against the Binance’s head of financial crime compliance.

However, in April, the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) arraigned him and Binance Holdings Limited, a cryptocurrency firm, over allegations bordering on money laundering.