Lapshin's defence rejects appeal in favour of extradition

The verdict to blogger Alexander Lapshin has come into force. According to his advocates, there are no obstacles to Lapshin's extradition from Azerbaijan to Israel.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 20, the Baku court found Alexander Lapshin guilty of illegal crossing the Azerbaijani border and sentenced him to three years in a general-security colony.

His verdict entered into force on August 14, Eduard Chernin, Lapshin's advocate, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"The verdict to Alexander Lapshin was read out on July 20; however, he received its text only on August 24. From that day the countdown of 20 days began, during which the verdict could be appealed against; however, Alexander Lapshin would not like to appeal and expressed a desire to serve his sentence in Israel – one of the three countries he is a citizen of. To speed up the extradition process, a decision was made not to appeal," Eduard Chernin has added.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.