Edward Nalbandian during a press conference in Yerevan on Jan. 31, 2017 (Photo: Photolure)
YEREVAN (ArmRadio)—“I can’t say who will benefit from the Lapshin case, but it will certainly not add honor to anyone,” Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said during a press conference on Tuesday, referring to Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin’s arrest for over his visits to the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic in 2011, 2012 and 2016.
“On the contrary, persecuting people for exercising their fundamental rights to the freedom of movement and freedom of expression is a shame,” he said.
According to Nalbandian, the case will hardly become a precedent.
“People have visited and will keep visiting Nagorno-Karabakh,” Nalbandian said. “More and more people have been visiting Nagorno-Karabakh over the past years despite Azerbaijan’s discontent. The visitors include not only outstanding public, political and culture figures, but also tourists.”
“The more they [Azerbaijan] try to prevent the visits, the more they advertise Nagorno-Karabakh. Everyone wants to go and see it,” the Minister noted.
“This only causes harm Azerbaijan’s reputation and the reputation of all those cooperating with Azerbaijan on such issues,” Nalbandian said.
On December 15, 2016, police in Belarus detained Lapshin, a popular travel blogger based in Moscow, for his prior visits to the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and for his criticism of the Aliyev regime.
On January 20, 2017, at Aliyev’s request, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Belarus decided to have Lapshin extradited to Azerbaijan. An appeal to the ruling was recently denied.
Source: Asbarez
Link: ‘People Will Keep Visiting Nagorno-Karabakh’ says Nalbandian