The Vardanyan brothers of Armenia, who were detained in Tanzania, are finally released.

Artyom, 52, and Eduard, 44, Vardanyan are already in the Netherlands, where they arrived from Tanzania.

“Nothing can break a person who is rich in friends. After the 7-month forced vacation in a Tanzanian prison, my brother and I came to realize that the budget of this country desperately needs 220 [US] dollars, which I paid for immigration regulations (…). [But] my brother, as it turned out, was in prison all this time solely for humanitarian objectives. They didn’t even deem necessary to fine him,” Artyom Vardanyan wrote, in particular, on his Facebook account.  

The Vardanyan brothers were detained on March 23, at Kilimanjaro International Airport in Tanzania.

The Citizen newspaper of this country had reported that the brothers had attempted to transport 61 monkeys to Albania—and then to Armenia—with a cargo plane.

Artyom Vardanyan is the proprietor of a large restaurant in Dzoraghbyur village in Kotayk Province of Armenia, and he keeps numerous exotic animals at this restaurant.