YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 10, ARMENPRESS. The extradition of Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin from Belarus to Azerbaijan is a criminal deal between the dictator leaders of the two countries, ARF faction Head Armen Rustamyan said at a briefing with reporters in the Parliament, reports “Armenpress”.

“It was just a criminal deal between two dictators who reached records in terms of human rights violations. It is obvious that this is just a political decision, a result of agreement between the two dictators. This failed to pass through any judicial system. It was obvious that Lukashenko dictated how the trial must go on”, Rustamyan said.

The MP stated that this issue must be transferred to another platform. “The issue must be considered from the viewpoint what this extradition means. This means that all those people who visit conflict zones in various parts of the world, don’t ask for permission of this or that country. It turns out that all people appear in Lapshin’s situation. This absurdity must be ended”, he said, adding that this issue must be taken to international arenas.

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.

A news correspondent reported from the airport that Lapshin is in a serious mental condition and he didn’t respond to the questions of journalists.

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”.

Belarus police arrested Alexander Lapshin on December 15, 2016 in Minsk. Lapshin, a Russian and Israeli citizen, resides in Moscow and writes for the famous Russian Travel Blog. He is wanted by Azerbaijan for visiting Nagorno Karabakh in 2011, 2012 and 2016, and criticizing Azerbaijan’s policy in his blog.

Baku demanded the extradition of Lapshin from Belarus.

Earlier it was reported that the Deputy Prosecutor General of Belarus has made a decision to uphold the request of Azerbaijan’s General Prosecutor on extraditing Citizen of Russia and Israel Alexander Lapshin, who is wanted for violating Articles 281.2 and 318.2 of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said on February 3 : “Belarus has no grounds to not extradite Lapshin to Azerbaijan”. He said the issue will be solved based on law and international agreements.

The Russian foreign ministry said it is inadmissible to extradite Russian citizens to third countries.