Alexander Lapshin: Azerbaijani authorities promised a number of  bloggers to pay from $ 15,000 to $ 20,000 so that they blacken me

ArmInfo. My visit to Armenia this  time is purely tourist in nature, I want to rent a car and visit the  border zone of Armenia. About this at a press conference on January  22, said blogger Alexander Lapshin.

He noted that he would stay in Armenia until the end of February. The  blogger noted that this is his fourth visit and it is interesting for  him to visit Syunik, Meghri, as well as drive along one of the most  dangerous roads in Armenia - to the village of Nrnadzor. As for  whether the blogger intends to visit Karabakh this time or not, the  latter noted that he now considers it inappropriate. "If I visit  Artsakh now, the Azerbaijani press will once again make a fuss over  my visit. Now protests are held in Azerbaijan to release another  blogger Mehman Huseynov. My visit to Artsakh can distract society  from the internal political processes in this country, "Lapshin  emphasized.

Regarding how other bloggers reacted to the situation with his  arrest, Lapshin said: "Many bloggers, of course, decided to support  me, as this attitude of Baku showed that they were pursuing freedom  of opinion.  However, there were those whom Azerbaijan promised to  pay from $ 15.tys to $ 20k so that they blacken me in all sorts of  ways. However, they didn't pay many, and then they told me about it,  " the blogger emphasized.

In turn, blogger Tigran Kocharyan noted that bloggers around the  world several months after Lapshin's arrest in support of latter  decided to visit Artsakh. "Baku has done everything possible to  intimidate people and stop their visits to Artsakh. We, in turn,  decided to show that we have nothing to fear, and many are ready to  visit Karabakh. To this day, many bloggers continue to visit Artsakh,  and some they visit him again, "Kocharyan stressed. He also noted  that after Lapshin's arrest, the Armenian media, as well as bloggers  from all over the world, decided to help him and protect him. "As a  result, international organizations intervened in this case,  especially when Alexander Lapshin was tried to be killed in prison.   After their attempt failed, the Azerbaijani authorities had no choice  but to release Lapshin," Kocharyan stressed.

Alexander Lapshin noted that, despite the opposition of Azerbaijan,  the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR - Ed.) Received his  complaint against Azerbaijan. Baku has been given 3 months to submit  its objections or documents on the case. "Azerbaijan presented a  healthy reputation for itself, a history with the Azerbaijani  landromat, bribing deputies to PACE, etc. Thus, my complaint is  accepted for consideration," Lapshin emphasized.

To recall, at the end of 2016, Lapshin was detained in Minsk at the  request of Azerbaijan, which included him in the "black list" for  visiting Karabakh without agreement with the Azerbaijani authorities.  The Baku Court of Grave Crimes convicted a citizen of Russia and  Israel Alexander Lapshin "for illegally crossing the state border of  Azerbaijan as part of a criminal group," sentencing him to three  years in prison. Later, the blogger was extradited from Minsk to  Azerbaijan. On September 10, 2017, while Lapshin was in prison, the  media circulated a message about his attempted suicide. The very next  day, the President of Azerbaijan signed an order for his pardon,  after which he left for Israel. After his release, the blogger said  that he had been assassinated in a Baku prison.