- Title: Azeri court sentences Russian-Israeli blogger to three years in jail
- Date: 20th July 2017
- Summary: BAKU, AZERBAIJAN (JULY 20, 2017) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF COURT BUILDING SIGN BY ENTRANCE "BAKU COURT ON GRAVE CRIMES" POLICE VAN DRIVING INTO COURT'S COURTYARD POLICE AND POLICE CAR ON STREET PEOPLE OUTSIDE COURT BUILDING COURT FENCE PARKED POLICE CAR AND POLICEMAN OUTSIDE COURT POLICE CAR ON STREET VARIOUS OF POLICE VAN DRIVING OUT OF COURTYARD POLICE VAN DRIVING AWAY ALEXANDER LAPSHIN'S LAWYER, EDUARD CHERNIN, TALKING TO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ALEXANDER LAPSHIN'S LAWYER, EDUARD CHERNIN, SAYING: "As for our further steps - I've already told it and am telling it once again - it depends on Lapshin's decision. I will meet him in the nearest future and we will decide. He is sentenced according to the article 318.2 - an illegal crossing of the Azerbaijan state border - to three years in prison."
- Embargoed: 3rd August 2017 11:55
- Keywords: Azerbaijan blogger Alexander Lapshin court sentence jail Israel
- Location: BAKU, AZERBAIJAN
- City: BAKU, AZERBAIJAN
- Country: Azerbaijan
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
- Reuters ID: LVA0016QIUPTZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A court in Azerbaijan has sentenced an Israeli-Russian blogger Alexander Lapshin to three years in jail on Thursday (July 20) for illegally crossing the country's border.
Baku authorities accuse the popular blogger of travelling to the Armenian-controlled parts of disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan considers its sovereign territory.
Nagorno-Karabakh lies inside Azerbaijan but is controlled by ethnic Armenians. Clashes over control of the region first erupted in 1991, a ceasefire was agreed in 1994 but Azerbaijan and Armenia have regularly trade accusations of violence around the breakaway region and along the Azeri-Armenian border.
Lapshin was detained in Belarus last year and extradited to Azerbaijan in February.
The 40-year-old blogger holds Russian, Israeli and Ukrainian citizenships.
Lapshin's lawyer Eduard Chernin said that Lapshin plans to appeal the sentence and will seek extradition to one of his home countries. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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