Belarus president says Russian-Israeli blogger will be extradited to Azerbaijan

PanARMENIAN.Net - Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday, February 3 he expects a Russian-Israeli blogger jailed in the country for nearly two months to be extradited to Azerbaijan. Lukashenko suggested, however, that Israel could reach a deal with Azerbaijan to secure Alexander Lapshin’s release, "if it wishes," Haaretz reports.

Lapshin, 40, a dual Israeli-Russian citizen, divides his time between Israel and a few other places. He was arrested on December 15 in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, at the request of Azeri authorities who demanded his extradition. The arrest was made one day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.

Lapshin 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.

Israel and Russia have been working in recent weeks to prevent Lapshin’s extradition to Azerbaijan. Officials from both countries, working in tandem, contacted the Belarusian and the Azerbaijani governments on the matter, but have so far failed. Azerbaijan is determined in its demand that Lapshin will be extradited.

The Belarusian Supreme Court is expected to rule in the coming days on Lapshin’s appeal. If the court rejects the appeal, Lapshin will be extradited.

“I’ve instructed to hand him over in accordance with the law,” President Lukashenko told a press briefing on Friday. “The Russians want him, the Israelis want him. According to the decision [by the court], we should transfer him to Azerbaijan. We could release him, but that wouldn't be right.”

Lukashenko, however, implied that there was still a possibility to reach a deal between Israel, Russia and Azerbaijan, which would secure Lapshin’s release.

The Belarusian president refused to elaborate or explain, but only noted that “most of the iceberg, which you can’t see, is underwater.”