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Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin, who was jailed in Azerbaijan last year for visiting Artsakh, has plans to visit Armenia.

In a post on Facebook, the blogger said he intends to take part in the In Tour Expo 2018 international tourism exhibition to be held in capital city Yerevan on 20-22 April.

“I am leaving for Yerevan to attend a tourism exhibition. I shall introduce my project, “Following Lapshin’s footsteps in Baku’. The program includes a flight on [Azerbaijan’s first lady] Mehriban Aliyeva’s private plane, all inclusive rest at Kurdahan prison [a penitentiary in Azerbaijan], as well as at the Baku Court of Grave Crimes. The price of the tour is contractual,” reads the post.

“I’m kidding. In reality, I am going to speak about my travels during the expo. It will be interesting, you are welcome,” he added.

Travel blogger Alexander Lapshin, who was sentenced to three years behind bars in Azerbaijan, was released on 12 September, after being pardoned by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

Lapshin was sentenced by the Baku court on grave crimes on July 20, 2017 over his visit to Nagorno-Karabakh.

The blogger was detained in the Belarusian capital of Minsk in December 2016 at Baku’s request. He was flown to Baku on February 7 and handed over to the Azerbaijani State Security Service.

Azerbaijani prosecutors launched a criminal case into “repeated public anti-state calls” and what they claimed as “illegal crossing of Azerbaijan’s state border.”

The extradition and persecution against Lapshin was widely slammed by international community as a gross violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of speech and movement.