Lawyer says jailed blogger Lapshin may be extradited to Russia, Israel or Ukraine

ITAR-TASS, Russia
July 20, 2017 Thursday 9:25 AM GMT



Lawyer says jailed blogger Lapshin may be extradited to Russia, Israel
or Ukraine

 BAKU July 20

HIGHLIGHT: Travel blogger Alexander Lapshin, who was sentenced by
Azerbaijan on Thursday to three years behind bars over his visit to a
disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, may be extradited to one of three
countries where he holds citizenship, his lawyer Eduard Chernin told
TASS.



BAKU, July 20. /TASS/. Travel blogger Alexander Lapshin, who was
sentenced by Azerbaijan on Thursday to three years behind bars over
his visit to a disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, may be extradited
to one of three countries where he holds citizenship, his lawyer
Eduard Chernin told TASS.

"Extradition is possible, this is envisaged by the law. Under
international conventions, Lapshin may be extradited if Russia, Israel
or Ukraine, of which he is citizen, file requests," the lawyer said.
The blogger should announce his wish to be extradited. "Now there are
no particular plans here," he added.

The lawyer said his client should decide whether to appeal the
sentence. Chernin said the court’s decision is "far more than good,"
stressing that "further procedural steps will be taken upon agreement
with Lapshin."

Earlier on Thursday, a court on grave crimes in Baku sentenced Lapshin
to three years behind bars over his visit to Nagorno-Karabakh, a
disputed border region between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The court did
not find Lapshin guilty of calling for violating Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity, noting that the charges pressed against him
"were not proved during the investigation." The prosecutors demanded
sentencing Lapshin to six years and a half in prison.

Lapshin was detained in the Belarusian capital of Minsk in December
2016 at Baku’s request. He was flown to Baku on February 7 and handed
over to the Azerbaijani State Security Service. Azerbaijan’s
prosecutors opened criminal cases against him envisaging jail terms of
between five and eight years.

Nagorno-Karabakh sought independence from Azerbaijan at the end of the
1980s, which resulted in a war between Azerbaijan and Armenia that
claimed the lives of 25,000-30,000 people between 1988 and 1994. Since
then, the territory has been controlled by Armenia.