Ashot Melikyan, Chairman of Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression, about the decision of Belarus to extradite blogger Alexander Lapshin to Azerbaijan
Yesterday, Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Belarus issued a decision to meet the request of the General prosecutor of the Republic of Azerbaijan regarding the repatriation of Alexander Lapshin, a citizen of the Russia Federation and Israel, to expose to criminal liability by the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan, Articles 281.2 and 318.2. In an interview with Aravot, Chairman of Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression, Ashot Melikyan, considered this decision an abuse of the right to freedom of expression and freedom of free mobility.
Recall that Azerbaijan accuses Lapshin of “illegally crossing the state border” of Azerbaijan (to visit Nagorno-Karabakh) and demands Belarus to extradite him. Interestingly that unlike Belarus, Russia has shown a diametrically opposite position. In particular, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke against the extradition of blogger Alexander Lapshin detained in Minsk to Azerbaijan. On this occasion, Mr. Melikyan said that two very similar to each other countries: Belarus and Azerbaijan, are arriving at some political consensus but at the same time, they violate human rights and above all, freedom of expression.
According to Mr. Melikyan, this incident once again shows that it is not in vain that these countries are on the list of “outlaw” countries. Back to Azerbaijan, in particular, to its so-called “black list”, Mr. Melikyan said, “Azerbaijan has already become a subject of ridicule in the international life and politics with its blacklist, in this sense, the cooperation of Belarus with Azerbaijan and Alexander Lapshin’s repatriation shows that this country also appears in the same status.”
Read also
Back to Belarus-Russia relations, our interlocutor noted that Belarus has repeatedly shown that it very easily can ignore Russia’s position, “I think that Russia itself should have a more principled stance and apply various international, economic-political and other mechanisms to compel others to respect itself as a state and its citizens.” The decision of Belarus also contains an abuse of human rights to free mobility. As proved by Ashot Melikyan, the person decides himself which country to go, what to see, what to state as facts, and with regard to freedom of expression, the journalist, the blogger, in this specific case, Lapshin decides how to cover what he saw. In fact, the Belarus decision abuses the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of mobility. Knowing that repatriation to Azerbaijan jeopardizes Lapshin’s health and maybe life, however, Belarus agreed to this political deal.”
To our whether their reaction in the given situation in Armenia can be considered dangerous when the political interests are subordinated to the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of mobility, especially since Armenia is already an EaEU member state, Mr. Melikyan found it difficult to make such predictions, reasoning that it is necessary to talk about the situations more concretely. However, he noted, “The point that this mutual respect and concession so far is not visible inside the EaEU, it is unequivocal. It was demonstrated against various countries and was observed.”
In conclusion, Ashot Melikyan raised several questions, such as, in this case, it is not clear why the approaches of Belarus and Russia should mot overlap, or why Armenia’s interests should not be respected. Ashot Melikyan stated discrepancies were reported between these two countries on more serious issues, including on Karabakh issue and even pertaining to the four-day war.
The law enforcement authorities in Belarus have made a decision to extradite the blogger jailed after a recent visit to Nagorno-Karabakh. A deputy prosecutor general has met the request by the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s office, agreeing to embark on the necessary procedures to hand over Alexander Lapshin to Baku. Azerbaijan earlier blacklisted Lapshin, a citizen of Israel and Russia, for visiting the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The blogger then conducted a second trip to Baku, using a Ukrainian passport as a travel document.
