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Russian blogger Lapshin extradited to Baku - media

Earlier on Tuesday, the Supreme Court of Belarus upheld a lower court ruling to extradite Lapshin

BAKU, February 7. /TASS/. Russian citizen Alexander Lapshin was extradited to Baku from Minsk, the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office said Tuesday.

"Lapshin was taken to a detention facility of the State Security Service," Azerbaijani prosecutors said.

A special flight with the blogger on board landed in the international airport of Baku at about 22:00 Moscow time, hours after the Supreme Court of Belarus upheld a lower court ruling to extradite him. In the airport, the Russian passport holder was handed over to officers of Azerbaijan’s State Security Service.

Lapshin, also a citizen of Israel, was detained in Minsk. He was put on an international wanted list at Azerbaijan’s request after visiting the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region without permission from the Azerbaijani authorities.

Azerbaijani prosecutors launched a criminal case into "repeated public anti-state calls" and "illegal crossing of Azerbaijan’s state border," punishable with a prison term of five to eight years.

The Belarusian Prosecutor General’s Office decided to extradite Lapshin on January 17. On January 26, the Minsk City Court upheld the decision.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier said Moscow opposes extradition of Russians to a third country and attempts to make trips by journalists or individuals to certain territories a criminal offense.