Israeli Minister talks blogger Lapshin’s sentence

By Rashid Shirinov

Israel will put efforts for blogger Alexander Lapshin, who is under arrest in Azerbaijan, to serve his sentence in Israel, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked told Interfax news agency in Moscow.

“Israel has made efforts and continues to make efforts to help Lapshin, who is a citizen of both Russia and Israel,” she said. “If he is convicted in Azerbaijan, we will do our best for Lapshin to serve the sentence in Israel.”

Blogger Lapshin, who owns citizenship of several countries, will stand trial in Baku for his illegal visits to the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.

The blogger illegally visited Azerbaijan`s Armenia-occupied lands and now is charged under the articles 281.2 (appeals directed against state) and 318.2 (illegal border crossing) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. He violated Azerbaijani laws on state border in April 2011 and October 2012.

Helped by his accomplices in the occupied territories, Lapshin paid a number of visits to Azerbaijan`s occupied lands, where he voiced support for "independence" of the illegal regime, and made public calls against Azerbaijan`s internationally recognized territorial integrity on April 6 and June 29, 2016.

The blogger was arrested in Minsk in late 2016 and transferred to Baku in February 2017.