YEREVAN. - Alexander Lapshin's extradition to Azerbaijan was simply a slap, renowned Russian TV presenter and public figure Vladimir Solovyov said at a press-conference in Yerevan on Monday.
''I cannot imagine how it was possibly to hand over the guy. This is stunning. Generally speaking, we must all be taken and handed over. If he is accused only of being in Karabakh and when this is sufficient for Belarus despite the protests of the Russian MFA and Israeli side, this is simply a slap,'' Solovyov noted.
According to him, all this story is odious. ''One shouldn't behave like that. There should be some kind of respect for international law. I realize that sly Belarusian bargaining is as always going on for subsequent economic conditions but I don't think these conditions should in any way impact the human fate. I've got a lot of questions to Lukashenko and all the Belarusian authorities. Stemming from this, should none of us leave for Belarus? We can be caught? Is this what will happen? I visited Karabakh for many time. And I didn't enter it from the Azerbaijani side. And what?'' he noted.
After his visits to Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) in 2011 and 2012, blogger Alexander Lapshin was “blacklisted” by Azerbaijan.
In June 2016, however, he paid a visit to Azerbaijan--but with a Ukrainian passport--and, subsequently, he published several articles criticizing the Azerbaijani authorities.
Afterward, Azerbaijan issued an international search for this famous blogger. On December 15, 2016, Lapshin was detained in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk, and based on this search.
On January 26 of the current year, the Minsk city court dismissed the blogger's appeal of the Belarusian General Prosecutor's Office decision to extradite him to Azerbaijan.
On February 7, the Supreme Court of Belarus dismissed the appeals that were filed into this case, and upheld the aforesaid decision by the General Prosecutor's Office.
On the evening of the same day, the famous blogger was extradited to the Azerbaijani capital city of Baku, where he was taken into custody.
According to analysts and human rights defenders, however, Alexander Lapshin’s case may become an appalling precedent that curtails the freedom of speech of foreigners and the freedom of movement of Armenian citizens.
