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Belarus' Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of extradition of Russian-Israeli blogger and traveler Alexander Lapshin to Azerbaijan, where he faces sentencing over what is claimed to be “illegal visit’ to the Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR).

As the local Belta agency reports, the case was considered in a closed court session. Belarus' Supreme Court examined the legality and validity of the ruling of the Minsk City Court. The operative part of the ruling was read out by the judge of the Supreme Court in the presence of the media. Alexander Lapshin did not attend the hearing. “The Supreme Court ruled to dismiss the appeal filed by Alexander Lapshin and his legal counsel against the ruling of the Minsk City Court as of 26 January that upheld the decision by Belarus Deputy Prosecutor General to extradite Alexander Lapshin to Azerbaijan for prosecution. The ruling is final and not subject to appeal,” the judge said.

Alexander Lapshin was arrested in December 15 in Minsk at the request of Azerbaijan that issued an international warrant for his arrest because of his visits to NKR, but also because of his posts, criticizing the Azerbaijani leadership.

Number of local and international human rights watchdogs condemned the arrest of the journalist and his planned extradition as an action directed against the freedom of press.