Lawyer: Lapshin's extradition is not yet possible

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

The issue of extradition of the blogger Alexander Lapshin, who was sentenced to three years in prison in Baku, is not on the agenda, Lapshin’s lawyer Eduard Chernin told Trend on July 24.

Last week, the Baku Court on Grave Crimes sentenced the blogger to three years of imprisonment on charges of his illegal visits to the Armenia-occupied Azerbaijani lands and a criminal conspiracy with the Armenians living there.

Chernin said the extradition is impossible as long as the court decision doesn’t come into force.

“The verdict against Lapshin has not yet entered into force. Therefore, he is still contained in the Baku detention facility No. 1,” said the lawyer.

Chernin added that he will meet with Lapshin next week.

“After the meeting we will know whether he will appeal the court’s decision. Lapshin hasn’t yet made any decision in this regard,” the lawyer said.

Blogger Lapshin was charged with his illegal visits to the Armenia-occupied Azerbaijani lands and a criminal conspiracy with the Armenians living there. He violated Azerbaijani laws on state border in April 2011 and October 2012.

Helped by his accomplices in the occupied territories, Lapshin paid a number of visits to Azerbaijan’s occupied lands, where he voiced support for "independence" of the illegal regime, and made public calls against Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territorial integrity on April 6 and June 29, 2016.

The blogger was arrested in Minsk in late 2016 and transferred to Baku in February 2017.

By the decision of the Baku Court on Grave Crimes, Lapshin will serve his three-year sentence in a general regime colony.

Unauthorized visits to Nagorno-Karabakh and other regions of Azerbaijan occupied by Armenia are considered illegal, and any individuals paying such visits are included in the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry's “black list.”