Deutsche Presse-Agentur
July 20, 2017 Thursday 9:53 AM EST


Azerbaijan jails travel blogger for 3 years for trip to disputed land


DPA POLITICS Azerbaijan conflict Armenia  Azerbaijan jails travel
blogger for 3 years for trip to disputed land Moscow
A court in the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan
sentenced Russian travel blogger Alexander Lapshin on Thursday to
three years in prison for visiting the disputed region of
Nagorno-Karabakh.


The region, which comprises about 4,500 square kilometres within
predominantly Muslim Azerbaijan, is controlled by Christian Armenian
separatists. Azerbaijan and neighbouring Armenia have fought over the
land for decades.

Lapshin, who also has Israeli and Ukrainian citizenship, was found
guilty of crossing into the region from the Armenian side without
Azerbaijan's authorization. He was detained in Belarus last year and
extradited to Azerbaijan.