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Azerbaijan taking steps to have Alexander Lapshin extradited from Belarus

16 December 2016 07:40 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office is taking the necessary steps to have Alexander Lapshin extradited from Belarus.

Alexander Lapshin, who has multiple citizenships, illegally visited the occupied Azerbaijani territories after entering into a criminal conspiracy with several persons residing in the occupied territories, the Prosecutor General’s Office told APA on Friday.

Lapshin, in violation of Azerbaijan’s laws on the state border and passports, paid illegal visits to the occupied Azerbaijani territories in April 2011 and in October 2012.

With the aim of promoting the illegal regime established in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, Lapshin, in his blog (http//puerrtto.livejournal.com) on the social network, presented Nagorno-Karabakh as an “independent state” along with Azerbaijan, Armenia and other countries he traveled to.

In addition, the calls by Lapshin on 6 April and 29 June 2016, which expressed support for the “independence” of the unrecognized regime in Nagorno-Karabakh, were aimed at violation of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.

Because there were public calls against state and illegal crossing of state border on Lapshin’s part, the Prosecutor General’s Office has opened a criminal case against him on articles 281.2 (public appeals directed against the state) and 318.2 (illegal crossing border of the Azerbaijan Republic), and issued an international arrest warrant for him.

Earlier, Belarusian law-enforcement authorities had detained Lapshin at the request of Azerbaijan.