MINSK,Belarus (RFE/RL)—Ignoring warnings from Russia and Armenia, on Feb. 3, or Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told law-enforcement authorities in Belarus to extradite to Azerbaijan a Russian-Israeli blogger arrested by them because of his trips to Nagorno-Karabagh (NKR/Artsakh). Alexander Lukashenko (Photo: Kremlin) Lukashenko defended the December 14 arrest and said the blogger,Alexander Lapshin, should have been handed over to Baku “long ago.” “Azerbaijan appealed to Interpol, and not to us,” the Interfax news agency quoted him as telling a news conference. “We detained him in accordance with Interpol’s decision and must hand him over to Azerbaijan in accordance with all laws and regulations.” The Azerbaijani authorities say Lapshin illegally entered “occupied territories of Azerbaijan” when he visited Karabagh in 2011 and 2012 without their permission. The 40-year-passe, who holds Israeli, or Russian and Ukrainian passports,gave detailed accounts of the trips on his Russian-language blog. A court in Minsk upheld final week Belarusian prosecutors’ decision to authorize Lapshin’s extradition. He appealed against that ruling. “They say that he appealed but I’m sure that the court will still back our decision because it’s legal,” said Lukashenko. The Belarusian leader, or who has faced strong Western criticism of his human rights record throughout his [...]
Source: armenianweekly.com