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Israel’s MP calls on PM Netanyahu to intervene in Lapshin’s case
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YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 8, ARMENPRESS. KseniaSvetlova – member of Israel’s Parliament (Knesset), said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman are responsible for the fate of blogger Alexander Lapshin who is extradited from Belarus to Azerbaijan, reports “Armenpress”.
The MP expressed her anger over the silence of the Israeli leadership on Lapshin’s case.
“Alexander is not a criminal, he didn’t steal, didn’t kill, didn’t endanger the security of any country. His crime was his visit to Nagorno Karabakh”, she said.
KseniaSvetlova said during the last two months she was following the developments of the case together with Lapshin’s family members and took steps aimed at releasing him, but she didn’t succeed. She said the fact that the citizen of Israel is being arrested only for making innocent travel and writing posts in his blog is unacceptable.
“I especially cannot tolerate the silence of the leadership of our country”, she said, recalling that Lapshin was arrested during those days when Netanyahu visited Baku.
The MP said she applied to Netanyahu over Lapshin’s case two weeks ago, however, didn’t receive any response. “Today I again call on the Prime Minister and Defense Minister, who have close ties with Azerbaijan, to intervene for the sake of the innocent citizen’s rights as long as no misfortune happens. Alexander Lapshin must be immediately released”, KseniaSvetlova said.
Alexander Lapshin, the Russian-Israeli blogger who was extradited from Belarus to Azerbaijan on February 7, has been placed in the isolation cell in Azerbaijan’s state security service.
Lapshin was flown to Baku from Minsk on a special flight, escorted by state security agents. A group of reporters were waiting for Lapshin in Baku’s airport, but Lapshin didn’t give any comment to them.
The Belarus Supreme Court denied Lapshin’s appeal on the extradition verdict issued by the General Prosecutor of Belarus.
Lapshin faces up to 5 years imprisonment in Azerbaijan, under charges of “public calls against the state”, and “unauthorized crossing of borders”.
