Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan, at the briefing with journalists after the Government session, referring to the arrest of blogger Alexander Lapshin, said that he can hardly give guarantees to release him. As mentioned by Tatoyan, “Currently, I am working with several prestigious organizations. I cannot guarantee the outcome but hopefully, they will have some effect.”
According to Human Rights Defender, blogger’s case is concerning as other journalists visiting Nagorno-Karabakh may encounter the same problem. Tatoyan said that the problem is primarily the work of journalists and international experts in Artsakh because the journalists’ work has a preventative role in relation to atrocities committed by Azerbaijan, “From now on, we must make the visit of journalists to Artsakh more active “.
“Human Rights Watch” organization has urged to release the leader of “New Armenia” movement, Andrias Ghukasyan. In this regard, in response to the question of the journalist, Tatoyan replied that the mandate of “Human Rights Watch” allows to express such a position while the law on the HRD prohibits to give assessment for such cases, Generally, I can say that the detention of any person can be applied again when other preventive measures are insufficient to ensure the proper behavior. This is a general international rule. Regarding the specific case, I cannot give any assessment, it is prohibited by the law.”
