ArmInfo.Russian Foreign Ministry reacted the extradition of Russian-Israeli blog writer Alexander Lapshin to Azerbaijan.
"According to the information , on February 7 the Supreme Court of Belarus, after having revied the case at closed session, denied the complaint of Russian and Israeli national Alexander Lapshin in respect to the General Prosecutor's office on his extradition to Azerbaijan. Russian side expresses its great disappointment with this decision, which does not conform to the spirit of alliance relations between Russia and Belarus. We are intended to undertake all the necessary steps to protect the legal rights of Russian national," the Foreign Ministry Statement reads.
Meanwhile, according to the statement of Israeli Foreign Ministry representative Emmanuel Nakhshon, Israel attentively monitors Lapshin's case. " We monitor Mr. lapshin's case and we are in the close contact with all the appropriate parties and consular entities," he said.
To mention, Minsk municipal court had also discussed the complaint for several hours at the session on January 26 and dismissed the complaint explaining its decision with lawfulness of the decision made by the Prosecutor's Office. Chairman of Armenia's Chamber of Advocates Ara Zohrabyan stated that there is only one option left -to apply to the Supreme Court of Belarus within 10 days. At the February 7 session, Belarus Supreme court did not change the previous decision. To remind, on January 20 General osecutor's Office of Belarus fulfilled request of Azerbaijan's General Prosecutor's Office on extradition of Russian and Israeli citizen famous blog writer Alexander Lapshin to Azerbaijan. In the middle of December the citizen of the Russian Federation Alexander Lapshin has been arrested in the Republic of Belarus with the purpose of extradition on the demand of Azerbaijan for visiting Nagorno-Karabakh and making notes about those visitations in his blog. Lapshin is included in Azerbaijan's black list for visiting Karabakh and he was forbidden to enter Azerbaijan. However, in June 2015 Lapshin arrived in Azerbaijan via Georgia with his Ukrainian passport.