Belarus rejects appeal against Israeli-Russian blogger’s extradition
The Belarusian Supreme Court has left unchanged the decision to extradite jailed Russian-Israeli blogger to Azerbaijan, RIA Novosti reports.
The General Prosecutor’s Office sanctioned Alexander Lapshin's extradition in January, meeting the Azerbaijani law enforcement authorities' earlier request.
According to the news agency TASS, Lapshin will not be handed over to Azerbaijan now as his spouse has applied to the Belarusian authorities, requesting additional defense guarantees for the blogger.
Lapshin was detained on December 15 in Minsk on the basis of Azerbaijan’s extradition request.
The Azerbaijani authorities earlier blacklisted him for a visit to Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Belarus has no reason to refuse to extradite Lapshin to Azerbaijan,” President Alexander Lukashenko said at a news conference on Friday, citing the “laws and international treaties” as appropriate guidelines to regulate procedure.