The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urged the Belarussian authorities to immediately release Russian-Israeli blogger Aleksandr Lapshin, detained in Minsk, on an extradition request from Azerbaijan, reports the CPJ official site.
Committee to Protect Journalists urges Belarus to release Russian-Israeli blogger who visited NKR
STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 16, ARTSAKHPRESS: The Minsk Police on December 15, 2016 detained Lapshin who lives in Moscow and writes a popular Russian-language travel blog.
He is wanted in Azerbaijan for visiting Nagorno Karabakh in April 2011, October 2012, and June 2016, and for criticizing Azerbaijani policies on his blog.
Azerbaijan included him in the “list of wanted people”. The CPJ’s statement says Azerbaijan and Belarus have close diplomatic relations.
Recently a representative of Belarus's prosecutor-general's office said it was studying Azerbaijan's extradition request.
“Aleksandr Lapshin should not be jailed for expressing his opinions or traveling to a disputed region. We call on Belarussian authorities to release the travel blogger without condition and allow him to return home”, CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said.
An Israeli consular official met the blogger on January 12. The blogger's wife, Yekaterina Kopilova, told Haaretz that the diplomat told her that Lapshin was "in poor mental health," "depressed," and under pressure from Belarussian officials to agree to voluntary extradition.
The CPJ recalls that Azerbaijan has declared 180 journalists personae non grata--meaning they cannot enter the country for visiting Nagorno Karabakh. Overall, the Azerbaijani MFA’s this list, last updated on December 7, 2016, includes 623 names.
