Russian, Azerbaijani ombudsmen to mull Lapshin’s detention
By Rashid Shirinov
Russian Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsman) Tatyana Moskalkova will appeal to her Azerbaijani counterpart Elmira Suleymanova to check the conditions of detention of blogger Alexander Lapshin, RIA Novosti reported.
Lapshin will stand trial in Baku for his illegal visits to the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. Currently, the blogger is in custody in Baku Investigative Prison No. 1 (Kurdakhani Pre-trial Detention Center) of the Penitentiary Service of Azerbaijan’s Justice Ministry, and his defense is being provided by lawyer Eduard Chernin, who was appointed by Lapshin’s family.
The blogger, who owns citizenships of several countries, 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. He was arrested in Belarus and later was extradited from Minsk to Baku.
Representatives of the Russian Embassy in Baku met Lapshin once and representatives of the Israeli Embassy met the blogger twice since his extradition from Belarus.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
---
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz