Yuki Gambaryan, the wife of detained Binance official Tigran Gambaryan, has cried out over her husband’s prolonged detention and ill-treatment, describing it as a punishment by President Bola Tinubu’s government in a bid to force the hand of the crypto company.

In a statement on Thursday, Ms Gambaryan lamented after her husband slumped in a courtroom of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court while standing trial in a money laundering case. 

“Yesterday, despite numerous signs of severe illness, my husband was still required to appear in court, where he later collapsed,” Ms Gambaryan said in a statement. “The conditions in the notorious Kuje prison are, in a word, devastating.”

Calling for the immediate release of her husband, Mrs Gambaryan said her husband’s prolonged detention was “unjust” and a punishment by Nigerian authorities targeted at Binance. 

“I am calling, yet again, for his immediate release. This punitive punishment against Tigran in an effort to target his employer has gone on long enough. My husband is sick. He needs help. Please, show some sense of humanity,” she said.

The Nigerian accuses the cryptocurrency firm of allegedly aiding speculators in manipulating the naira.

Consequently, Binance blocked its Nigerian users from its website, disabled its P2P function and exited the Nigerian market. 

Similarly, other cryptocurrency trading platforms, OKX and KuCoin, have disabled their P2P functions for Nigerian users and delisted naira on their platforms.

In February, the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, ambushed and arrested two Binance officials, Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, while on an official visit to Nigeria. 

Mr Anjarwalla, Binance’s Africa regional manager, escaped from the NSA custody on March 22 and fled the country, while Mr Gambaryan has remained in custody facing trial over money laundering charges.

Binance has repeatedly called for the release of Mr Gambaryan so that further negotiations with Nigerian authorities can continue.