Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14
By Samir Ali – Trend:
At the current stage, extradition of blogger Alexander Lapshin, who illegally visited Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region occupied by Armenia, in one of the countries whose citizenship he holds, is impossible, Lapshin’s lawyer Safar Huseynov told Trend.
He noted that investigation of the criminal case, initiated against Lapshin, is underway.
“Upon completion of the investigation, he must come before the court. After the judgment is passed, it can be considered to transfer him to one of the countries, citizenship of which he holds. Lapshin cannot be extradited to any country before court decision is issued,” Huseynov said.
The lawyer added that Lapshin’s family members have not yet applied to him.
“His family needs to contact the embassy to meet him. After this, members of the family can apply to me through the embassy,” Huseynov said.
Alexander Lapshin, a citizen of several countries, illegally visited Azerbaijani territories, occupied by Armenia.
He 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.