Blogger Lapshin reports new criminal prosecution in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan opens criminal cases against Alexander Lapshin for his calls for terrorism and actions against the state.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 11, 2017, the President of Azerbaijan pardoned the blogger, earlier sentenced to three years in prison on charges of illegally crossing the country's border. After his release, Lapshin was hospitalized. According to Azerbaijani authorities, he attempted suicide. Lapshin himself treated the incident in the Baku prison as an attempted murder. On September 14, 2017, he flew to Israel.

Lapshin has reported, in his Facebook page, that two new criminal cases were opened against him in Azerbaijan. According to his story, Russian officials warned him that Azerbaijani authorities were angry that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) had accepted Lapshin's complaint about the above attempted murder.

Azerbaijani authorities impute upon Lapshin a violation of two laws, namely, "open calls for terrorism (for his calls to release the Azerbaijani blogger Mekhman Guseinov)" and "open calls against the state (for his articles, condemning Baku authorities for 'corruption and lawlessness')", the blogger himself believes.

In March 2019, Lapshin intends to come to the "Interpol" office in the French city of Lyon.