Based on the decision of the Supreme Court of Belarus, blogger Alexander Lapshin was extradited to Azerbaijan. Lapshin was delivered Tuesday night on a special flight to Baku International Airport .
Earlier, the blogger was detained in Minsk at the request of the Azerbaijani government. In Baku, he was taken in handcuffs.
Alexander Lapshin has repeatedly visited, inconsistent with official Baku policy, the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which in 2011 was included in the “black list” of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry. In addition, the blogger is accused of breaking the law “On the State Border” for being driven to Azerbaijan in June of last year through the territory of Georgia for a Ukrainian passport, reports Sputnik Azerbaijan.
In Azerbaijan, Lapshin will be prosecuted under two articles of the Criminal Code: 281.2 (appeals directed against the state), punishment includes imprisonment for a term of 5 to 8 years, and 318.2 (illegal suppression of the state border of the Azerbaijan Republic), five years in prison. The Azerbaijani authorities have also placed the blogger on international search lists.
According to the Azerbaijani legislation, penalties will include the maximum amount of punishment.
