make preferableYEREVAN. - The states concerned will try to settle the matter related to blogger Alexander Lapshin so that everyone is able to save face.
Political alalyst Karine Gevorgyan said the aforementioned, referring upon the request of Armenian News – NEWS.am to the situation round Lapshin’s possible extradition from Belarus to Azerbaijan.
“Alexander Lapshin will most probably be extradited from Belarus to Azerbaijan, following which the Azerbaijani authorities will hand him over to Israel in order not to spoil their relations with the latter. In Israel, Laphsin will be granted amnesty. Lukashenko will thereby demonstrate that he is Aliyev’s friend. Aliyev will [for his part] manifest “kindness,” she noted.
According to Gevorgyan, this kind of solution is unlikely to have far-reaching consequences in the relations of Azerbaijan and Israel, however there is already certain tension.
Azerbaijan strongly relies on the military cooperation with Israel. Considering the treatment of the state of Israel to its citizens, the open demarche of the Azerbaijani authorities is unlikely to remain without consequences.
Currently, Russia and Israel are trying to achieve the cancellation of the decision on extraditing Lapshin.
After his visits to Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) in 2011 and 2012, Alexander Lapshin was “blacklisted” by Azerbaijan. In June 2016, however, he paid a visit to Azerbaijan, but with a Ukrainian passport. Subsequently, he issued several articles criticizing the Azerbaijani authorities. Afterward, the Azerbaijani authorities issued an international search for this famous blogger. And on December 15, 2016, he was detained in the Belarus capital city of Minsk, and based on this international search.
On January 26, the Minsk city court dismissed the complaint of blogger Alexander Lapshin over the decision of the Belarusian prosecutor’s office to extradite him to Azerbaijan. On Monday two complaints will be filed with the Supreme Court of Belarus.
