Relatives of Alexander Lapshin extradited by Belarus to Azerbaijan were shocked to hear the news about Lapshin’s extradition. The consuls of Russia and Israel were also shocked because they were not informed about the extradition. Aravot.am asked blogger and information security expert Tigran Kocharyan whether he has talked to Lapshin’s wife and what his relatives are planning to do. Mr. Kocharyan replied, “I am in touch with Ekaterina, Lapshin’s partner and common-law wife. The relatives were shocked. Certainly, they have also sent notes of complaint.”
We asked whether he has any information about the children under the care of the extradited blogger, Mr. Kocharyan answered that according to his information, they have no children. The Armenian blogger informed that now the diplomats of Russia and Israel are in Baku trying to understand what charges are brought against Lapshin and how they can organize the trial to proceed fairly and will try to somehow take Lapshin out of Azerbaijan. According to Tigran Kocharyan, we must do so that Lapshin does not appear in Azerbaijan. He added, “Unfortunately, two people determine Lapshin’s fate who are considered by the world to be dictators, and very often, the events in their countries are taking place by their whim. I mean the presidents of Azerbaijan and Belarus. Here, there should be an international pressure. Lapshin is fortunate in the fact that he is a citizen of two quite powerful countries: Russia and Israel.”
It became clear that Interpol has never declared Alexander Lapshin wanted and he was not arrested on December 15, 2016, on the demand of the Interpol, as recently President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko stated. To the question of whether this fact does not make Lukashenko’s interest in the extradition of Lapshin obvious, Mr. Kocharyan replied, “The charges that were brought against Lapshin are political and there is nothing criminal in the pretext. Lukashenko’s famous press conference reveals that he is either unaware of some things or is trying to distort the reality. It is not only on the part of the Interpol but in general, people immediately guessed that there are serious discrepancies in Lukashenka’s speech. It is good that our police turned to Interpol and posted information that Lapshin was not wanted by the Interpol.”
Tigran Kocharyan explained that declaring wanted by the Interpol is a special process as the latter accepts not all inquiries and declare a nationwide search for the man. Moreover, if it is felt that there is a political matter, and the country has requested to arrest given person by political considerations and to move to its office, naturally, the Interpol rejects the request.
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According to the Armenian blogger, it was also suspicious that Azerbaijanis were saying that around 13 countries have applied for Lapshin but were rejected, “All this makes things clear that Lapshin was a victim of Azerbaijan-Belarus presidential level friendly relations. It was an inter-state agreement. Speaking about Lukashenko’s interest, Tigran Kocharyan again reminded Lukashenko’s amazement during the famous press conference, what? Is Lapshin in Belarus? and right after this day, he was extradited to Azerbaijan.
To the question of whether the RA MFA efforts in the course of events around Lapshin were sufficient, Mr. Kocharyan replied, “Usually, I have a quite critical attitude toward our Foreign Ministry but in this case, I can say that they did quite well in connection with Lapshin’s case. Unfortunately, not the whole structures work well. For example, I am dissatisfied with the work of our ambassador to Belarus. When we saw that Belarus is beginning to become a pro-Azerbaijan on some issues, there was no response and it was apparent that poor work is conducted towards Belarus.”
Turning to the question of what should be done in the created situation, Tigran Kocharyan said that firstly, you should try to prevent such incidents in the future, and no president of any country would ever think that they can easily take a person and extradite to another country. The Belarusian President must understand that if he continues to take unilateral steps, have non-allied relations with Armenia and try to do harm to Armenia, Armenia will give its answer. According to Kocharyan, Lukashenko eventually should be compelled to understand that it is necessary to keep neutrality.
