YEREVAN. – Azerbaijan’s hysteria over Lapshin’s case had the opposite effect: more people are visiting Karabakh, Armenian foreign minister Edwar Nalbandian during a Q&A session in the parliament.

Asked about the safety of blogger visiting Karabakh, Nalbandian said Azerbaijan’s behavior is unpredictable, but their consistent attempts to block the trip have the opposite effect.

“A group of bloggers from ten countries visited Karabakh immediately after Lapshin’s arrest. Another group plans to visit wine festival in the village of Togh,” he added.

The same is about the so-called “black list”, the minister said, adding that Azerbaijan’s behavior in this regard was negatively assessed in statements made by different countries, not Armenia only.

Alexander Lapshin—who is a citizen of Russia, Israel, and several other countries—was “blacklisted” by Azerbaijan for visiting Karabakh. On December 15, 2016, Lapshin was detained in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk, and was later extradited to Baku.

On July 20, the Baku court sentenced blogger Alexander Lapshin to three years in jail, but he was pardoned on September 11. Lapshin was forced to commit suicide in jail.