The Foreign Ministry welcomes the Azerbaijani president’s decision to release Alexander Lapshin, an Israeli-Russian blogger who was jailed earlier this year for traveling to a separatist-controlled region of the former Soviet republic.
“We are pleased with the pardon granted to Mr. Lapsin by the president of Azerbaijan,” the statement says. “He was accompanied by Israeli embassy representatives throughout his arrest and incarceration.”
“We will be happy to see him in Israel soon,” the ministry adds.
Alexander Lapshin, who holds Russian, Ukrainian and Israeli citizenship, was detained in Belarus last year and extradited to Azerbaijan, where he was charged for his trip to Nagorno-Karabakh via Armenia several years ago. In July, he was sentenced to three years in prison.
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