YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 15, ARMENPRESS. Alexander Lapshin, the Russian-Israeli blogger who was pardoned by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and flown to Tel Aviv from Baku, denied having attempted suicide while in jail, Israeli media said.

Lapshin said other inmates had attacked him in the Azerbaijani prison. Lapshin hinted that the presidential pardon was just a PR stunt following his injuries.

"I have not committed any suicide attempt," he said. "I received threats from the beginning of my stay in Baku prison from other prisoners. Although they kept me in isolation, crossing paths with other inmates was inevitable. "I was interrogated on the subject of cooperating with the FSB [Russia] and the intelligence services of Armenia on hostile activity against Azerbaijan. It was absolute nonsense, but that was what interested them the most”, he said.

"A few days ago, they put someone in my cell. I woke up two days later in the emergency room of a hospital in Baku with a fractured neck, choke marks and broken teeth.

"Immediately after the incident, I was pardoned”, he added.

The tourism blogger was detained in Belarus in 2016 upon Azerbaijan’s request. Azerbaijan had blacklisted Lapshin for his visit to Artsakh.

On February 7, 2017, Alexander Lapshin was extradited to Azerbaijan where a Baku Court sentenced him to 3 years imprisonment.

Charges included “public calls against the state” and “illegal border crossing”.

The blogger was found guilty for illegal border crossing under Article 318 – the infamous and illicit “law” which defines criminal proceedings for foreigners who visit Nagorno Karabakh “without authorization of Azerbaijan”.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev pardoned Israeli-Russian blogger Alexander Lapshin on September 11.

Azerbaijani media said the blogger attempted to commit suicide prior to being pardoned.