Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin being detained earlier this year.
BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s abrupt pardon of Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin, who was serving a three year sentence in a Baku prison for visiting Artsakh, was a surprise to those who have been following this case when Lapshin was unceremoniously extradited to Azerbaijan by Belarus authorities late last year.
Lapshin’s pardon also was peppered with news that he attempted suicide at the prison a day before Aliyev’s announcement. This was followed up with reports that he was under medical care following the attempt.
It seems, however, that a day after the reported suicide attempt Lapshin was well enough to pen a letter praising Aliyev, Azerbaijan and offering a rare mea culpa for someone who had unequivocally admonished the Aliyev regime for its abysmal human rights record.
However, it wasn’t his criticism of the Baku regime that landed him in jail, as those charges were dropped. It was his visits to Artsakh and his generally positive coverage of that country in his travel blog that compelled the court to sentence him to three years in jail.
In a letter published by the Azerbaijani press, on September 11, the day of Aliyev’s pardon, Lapshin penned a letter, in which he expresses his regret “for the things I have done. I did not have knowledge of the issues happening in the region and neighborhood regions during my visit to the Nagorno-Karabakh.”
