YEREVAN, APRIL 20, ARMENPRESS. Blogger Alexander Lapshin is going to participate in one of the sessions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg during which he will talk about violations of his rights by Azerbaijan, reports Armenpress.
“I am going to talk about how they kept me in the isolation ward for 7 months which is a human rights violation, how they deprived me from the opportunity to connect with the outside world, how mocked me. And on the last day, September 10, the birthday of my mother, I was beaten, they broke my tooth, and when I was unconscious, I had a rope on my throat and they hanged me in the toilet, later presenting that I hung on. I think they deliberately chose my mother’s birthday”, Lapshin told reporters in Yerevan.
The blogger said while he was in Azerbaijan, he understood that he is in a totalitarian country which is governed by clans, and he is being used for solving the country’s internal issues. “They want to show the illiterate society that Ilham Aliyev is a strong leader, can allow himself not to respect the opinion of Russia, Israel and the European Union”, Lapshin said.
The lawsuit filed over the illegal actions committed by Azerbaijan has been submitted to the European Court of Human Rights 1.5 month ago. French attorneys have told Lapshin that it has already being examined by the court, and the trial may last 1-2 years. “We have submitted to the court charges on the attempt to kill me in the Baku court, violation of my rights, extradition right, as well as illegally depriving me from freedom”, Alexander Lapshin said.
He believes that Azerbaijanis spend financial and human resources and monitor everything happening with him on a daily basis. “I am confident that they will monitor everything I will say here by spending financial and political resources. The more resource they spend in fight against me, the fewer weapons they will purchase”, he said.
The blogger said this time he will not manage to visit Artsakh since he has to leave for Strasbourg in three days, but he promised to visit the country next time. “I will visit Artsakh next time, and will show that they [Azerbaijanis] cannot scare us”, Lapshin noted.
He arrived in Armenia to participate in the InTour Expo and SportWay exhibitions. Here Lapshin will speak about his travels to Armenia and other countries, as well as how to be free and enjoy trip.
Lapshin was arrested in 2016 by Belarus police after being declared internationally wanted by Azerbaijan. The blogger was blacklisted by Azerbaijan for visiting Artsakh.
Lapshin was extradited to Baku in early 2017, a move that sparked outrage among human rights activists and others.
He was sentenced to three years in jail by Baku, but was pardoned by President Ilham Aliyev on September 11, 2017.
English –translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan