Israeli embassy reps visit blogger Lapshin

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

Blogger Alexander Lapshin, who was extradited from Minsk and will soon stand trial in Baku, met with representatives of the Israeli Embassy in Azerbaijan on February 10.

Eldar Sultanov, the spokesperson for the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office said that the meeting was held in accordance with international law, at the request of the Israeli Embassy to the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan.

Earlier, representatives of the Russian Embassy in Azerbaijan met with Lapshin. After the meeting, the embassy said that Lapshin has no complaints about conditions of detention.

Blogger Lapshin, who owns several citizenships, illegally visited Azerbaijan`s Armenia-occupied lands and now is charged under the articles 281.2 (appeals directed against state) and 318.2 (illegal border crossing) articles of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.

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.

Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.