The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) supports blogger Alexander Lapshin’s relentless fight to achieve justice in connection with the persecution by Azerbaijan, IFJ said in a statement.
According to the statement, many journalists continue to be persecuted in Azerbaijan. In 2005, IFJ, together with the European Federation of Journalists, sent a letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, urging to release seven journalists.
Lapshin was arrested in Minsk, Belarus in December 2016 at Azerbaijan’s request for having illegally visited Nagorno-Karabakh and was sentenced to three years in prison.
On September 11, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed an order to pardon Israeli citizen Alexander Lapshin. The blogger reportedly made a suicide attempt in prison.