Belarus extradites Alexandr Lapshin to Azerbaijan
Belarus has extradited blog writer Alexandr Lapshin to Azerbaijan. Haqqin.az says that Lapshin, a citizen of Russia, Ukraine and Israel, was flown to Baku on a special charter flight. On February 7, the Supreme Court of Belarus rejected the blogger’s appeal against the Belarusian Prosecutor General’s Office on his extradition to Azerbaijan. Lapshin did not attend the hearing. Lapshin, 40, was arrested by Belarusian authorities on December 15, 2016 in Minsk, at the request of the Azeri authorities, who demanded his extradition because of his visits to the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic. The journalist visited the Artsakh Republic in April 2011 and in October 2012, and later in his blogs called for international recognition of Artsakh. In its December 16 statement, the Azerbaijani Prosecutor-General’s Office said Lapshin illegally visited Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh without asking permission from Azerbaijani officials. On January 20, the Belarusian Prosecutor General’s Office granted the request of the Azerbaijani authorities to extradite Lapshin to Azerbaijan. Russian and Israel were against the decision but all diplomatic efforts were futile.
