A court in Baku on Thursday, July 20 sentenced Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin to three years in prison.

On Wednesday, the court heard the defense side. Lawyer Eduard Chernin said he considered the charges brought against the blogger "unfounded and illegal" and asked for an acquittal.

In his closing argument, Lapshin once again rejected the charges against him.

"I categorically reject the accusations against me and plead not guilty," he said.

Lapshin divides his time between Israel and a few other places. He was detained on December 15 in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, at the request of Azeri authorities who demanded his extradition.

He was arrested following his visits to Nagorno Karabakh as well as due to critical posts in his Russian-language blog against Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

Once extradited to Azerbaijan, Lapshin was immediately taken into custody.