Nagorno Garabagh

Home page

Nagorno Garabagh

Belarus ambassador comments on negotiations to extradite blogger Lapshin to Azerbaijan

28 December 2016 11:09 (UTC +04:00)

Ambassador of Belarus to Azerbaijan Gennady Ahramovich has commented on the detention of blogger Alexander Lapshin in Minsk at the request of Azerbaijan and the ongoing negotiations on his extradition to Azerbaijan.

The extradition of blogger Alexander Lapshin to Azerbaijan is not excluded in case there are legal grounds for it, the ambassador told reporters in Baku Dec. 28.

“If there are legal grounds, the person apparently violated the law and is proved guilty, Minsk will give a positive response to the request,” the diplomat added.

Ahramovich noted that he witnessed such cases several times during his diplomatic mission.

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

The necessary steps are being taken to have Alexander Lapshin extradited to Azerbaijan from Belarus.

Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office stated that 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.

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.