Mammadyarov: Blog writer Lapshin`s case should be addressed only within legal framework
ArmInfo.Blog writer Alexander Lapshin's case should be addressed only within the legal framework, Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov told APA.
"In accordance with the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan,
a criminal case has been initiated against Lapshin, who illegally
crossed the state border of Azerbaijan and demonstrated disrespect to
the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan. Lapshin has
been put on Interpol's wanted list. All relevant documents have been
submitted for the extradition of Lapshin. I believe Russia's law-
enforcement authorities would have taken similar steps in respect of
a person who committed a similar action in relation to Russia and
illegally crossed its state border", Mammadyarov stated.
To note, Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister stated at the
annual press conference in Moscow, commenting the detention of
Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin in Minsk due to
Azerbaijan's request for his visit to Nagorno Karabakh. "Russia is
against criminalization of journalists or simply private persons
visiting any region", he said.
"Second, we are against extradition of Russian nationals arrested in
any country, to third countries. We had consular contact with
Lapshin, we know that he is also an Israeli citizen and Israeli
diplomats had contact with him as well. We will take all the steps to
solve this situation within the respect to all the rights of Russian
citizen, which is also an Israeli citizen," Lavrov accentuated.
To remind, in the middle of December the citizen of the Russian
Federation Alexander Lapshin has been arrested in the Republic of
Belarus with the purpose of extradition on the demand of Azerbaijan
for visiting Nagorno-Karabakh and making notes about those
visitations in his blog. General Prosecutor's Office of Belarus
informed earlier that the issue of extraditing Lapshin to Azerbaijan
is being studied but no decision has been made yet.