YEREVAN, DECEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. Alexander Lapshin, the Russian-Israeli tourism blogger who was jailed in Azerbaijan for visiting Artsakh, has declared 2018 to be a year of punishment for Azerbaijan.

Lapshin said on Facebook that he will apply to the European Court of Human Rights for his illegal detainment and prosecution in Azerbaijan.

“I declare 2018 to be a year of punishing Azerbaijan” he said.

Lapshin was detained in 2016 in Belarus after Azerbaijan issued an international arrest warrant.

Azerbaijan launched criminal proceedings after the blogger visited Artsakh without authorization from Baku – a completely ludicrous and judicially unfounded argument.

He was extradited to Azerbaijan, sentenced to three years but subsequently pardoned by the president.