“Belarusian authorities put political benefits above democratic norms and principles of legitimacy and justice,” the Foreign Ministry of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic said, commenting on the extradition of Russian-Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshin to Azerbaijan.

“The verdict of the Supreme Court of Belarus, which upheld the decision to hand over well-known blogger Alexander Lapshin to Azerbaijan for criminal prosecution is not only an expression of outright support for the policy of intimidating foreign citizens pursued by the Azerbaijani authorities, but also a flagrant violation of the fundamental rights to the freedom of movement and freedom of speech,” the Ministry said in comments to Artsakhpress news agency.

“By handing Alexander Lapshin over to Azerbaijan at the request of Baku, based on the trumped-up and politically biased case, the Belarusian authorities demonstrate that they put political benefits above democratic norms and principles of legitimacy and justice,” the Foreign Ministry stated.