Russian diplomat meets with Alexander Lapshin in Baku
Russian Embassy diplomat Denis Apashkin has met with Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin who is being held in detention in Baku, Ria Novosty reported.
“Lapshin has no complaints about detention conditions and has already provided with a lawyer,” the diplomat said as quoted by the agency.
To remind, Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin was extradited to Azerbaijan on Tuesday, hours after the Supreme Court of Belarus upheld a lower court ruling to extradite him. Lapshin was detained in Minsk in December. He was put on an international wanted list at Azerbaijan’s request after visiting the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) 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.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said on February 8 that Lapshin’s extradition "does not correspond to the spirit of friendly ties between allies Russia and Belarus."
Armenia’s Foreign Ministry slammed the persecution of Alexander Lapshin and his extradition to Azerbaijan as “a gross violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of speech and movement.”