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Foreign Ministry of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) says the extradition of the Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin to Azerbaijan is a flagrant violation of the fundamental rights to the freedom of movement and freedom of speech.

In a comment to the local Artsakhpress.am news outlet, the ministry said: “The verdict of the Supreme Court of Belarus, which has upheld the decision to hand over well-known blogger Alexander Lapshin to Azerbaijan for criminal prosecution is not only an expression of outright support for the policy of intimidating foreign citizens pursued by the Azerbaijani authorities, but also a flagrant violation of the fundamental rights to the freedom of movement and freedom of speech. Intending to hand over Alexander Lapshin to Azerbaijan at the request of Baku, based on the trumped-up and politically biased case, the Belarusian authorities demonstrate that they put political benefit above democratic norms and principles of legitimacy and justice.”

To note, a special flight with the Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin on board landed in the international airport of Baku late on Tuesday, hours after the Supreme Court of Belarus upheld a lower court ruling to extradite him.

Lapshin was detained in Minsk. He was put on an international wanted list at Azerbaijan’s request after visiting the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and criticizing the Azerbaijani leadership.

Azerbaijani prosecutors launched a criminal case into "repeated public anti-state calls" and "illegal crossing of Azerbaijan’s state border," punishable with a prison term of five to eight years.