Renowned Russian Armenian businessman and benefactor Levon Hayrapetyan has passed away; his relatives have confirmed this information.

Hayrapetyan died Wednesday at the age of 68.

He had a great contribution to the development and improvement of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh).

Hayrapetyan, however, spent the last years of his life in prosecutions. He was sentenced to four years in prison in Moscow, on charges of extorting $700 thousand from the mother of a Russian former senator. But because of health problems, his prison sentence was later commuted to house arrest.

Levon Hayrapetyan will be laid to rest at the Armenian cemetery in Moscow.