Azerbaijan’s OSCE PA rep responds to Armenian claims on Lapshin

By  Trend

Member of the Azerbaijani delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) Kamran Nabizade responded to the Armenian MP, who at the assembly’s winter session said that blogger Alexander Lapshin’s extradition to Azerbaijan is “illegal”.

In his response, Nabizade said every country in the world imposes criminal liability for violation of its borders and illegal entry.

Nabizade told OSCE PA members that any foreign citizen can visit the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan only with Baku’s permission.

Alexander Lapshin is a citizen of several countries and has had a criminal conspiracy with Armenians living in the occupied Azerbaijani territories. He also illegally visited these territories.

Lapshin is accused of violating Azerbaijani laws on state border in April 2011 and October 2012.

On Jan. 17, Alexei Stuk, deputy prosecutor general of Belarus, issued a ruling on Lapshin’s extradition to Azerbaijan. Lapshin was brought to Azerbaijan on Feb. 7.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.