Monday, October 7 2019 12:36

ArmInfo. The trial in the  European Court of Human Rights on charges of the Azerbaijani  authorities in organizing an attempted murder of a Russian-Israeli  traveler, blogger and journalist Alexander Lapshin has entered a  decisive stage. This was announced by the blogger himself on his  Facebook page.

"Friends, I'm in a hurry to share the fact that the court accused the  Azerbaijani authorities of organizing an attempted murder has moved  to a decisive stage. The procedure called" communication "(in the  common law is called" the debate of the parties ") has ended. My  lawyers have filed a package of documents with evidence of the  commission of crimes by Azerbaijanis The opposing side presented its  objections. On Friday 04.10.2019 the case was referred to the ECHR  panel of judges in Strasbourg for a decision. Neither I personally,  nor my lawyers, nor numerous politicians from a number of countries  and human rights defenders who have given me the most serious support  this year in all matters. Azerbaijan will lose this process, the  whole question is only what formulations the court will select,  "Lapshin wrote, citing two versions of the ECtHR's formulations - or  organizing an attempt for murder by the Azerbaijani authorities, or  the inability of the Azerbaijani authorities to ensure the security  and observance of the legitimate rights of a person under their  jurisdiction.

At the same time, the journalist is convinced that this process will  go down in history as a precedent in a number of parameters:  "Firstly, for the first time, it is an attempt to kill a tourist  organized by the state's special services because of his trip to  Nagorno-Karabakh. Secondly, for the first time by the persecution of  a foreign citizen the head of state (Ilham Aliyev) personally took  responsibility for taking all responsibility for my life and health,  I mean both the "dirty deal" with the head of Belarus, Alexander  Lukashenko, and Aliyev's comments at all stages of the arena 100,  trial and release. Never before in history has the head of a state  humiliated himself to explain and comment on the arrest of an  individual citizen. Thirdly, the Azerbaijani authorities committed a  record number of falsifications, gross errors, contradictory  statements and outright lies. According to lawyers conducting cases  at the ECHR in Strasbourg, states usually try to look in court with  dignity and not be caught in falsification of documents. Azerbaijanis  managed to get at least three times on this: a fake letter of thanks  to Aliyev that I never wrote (since I was in a coma on these dates in  the intensive care unit after the attack), allegations that I didn't  receive letters and statements because of the "postman's disease"  (mail trackers they say the opposite is what everyone got) and  finally injuries recorded by Israeli experts indicating an attack,  not a suicide. Unlike the Israelis, without even the slightest  investigation and expert examination, the head of Azerbaijan, Ilham  Aliyev, fearfully declared on the day of the attack on me September  11, 2017: "Lapshin hanged himself, but we saved him ...", the blogger  wrote.

At the same time, he pointed out that there was not only a criminal  component (attempted murder) in this trial, but also an important  political factor. Lapshin is convinced of the importance of setting a  precedent that prosecution of bloggers, journalists, and individuals  visiting any region of the world as tourists should not be  encouraged. "It is important to show that Azerbaijan is neither  capable of an adequate court, nor of respecting the rights of those  arrested, nor of preserving their life and health, and therefore  should not be extradited to this country. My precedent should create  maximum difficulties for the Baku authorities in any future attempt  to prosecute journalists and Also, brutal physical violence against a  tourist just for his trip to Nagorno-Karabakh should show that any  negotiations on a future settlement of the Karabakh issue should take  into account the risks that if Baku gains control of the region, then  the ethnic Armenians will face a brutal massacre, compared with which  the pogroms in Baku and Sumgait seem like a trifle, but if the  assassination is not directed by Ilham Aliyev, but by the warring  clans inside the country's leadership, the question asks how much  Aliyev is capable of to control the situation inside Azerbaijan. And  is it possible to consider President Aliyev as a reliable partner in  the negotiation process, "Lapshin concluded.

It should be noted that Alexander Lapshin became widely known in  public circles after he was arrested in Minsk in 2016 at the request  of the Azerbaijani authorities and extradited to Baku due to a visit  to Nagorno- Karabakh. Lapshin visited Nagorno-Karabakh in 2011 and  2012, after which Azerbaijan was blacklisted by people who are  prohibited from entering the country. Nevertheless, Alexander Lapshin  was able to visit Baku in June 2016, having entered Azerbaijan with  his Ukrainian passport, which included "Alexander" instead of  "Alexander", because of which the Azerbaijani border guards could not  recognize the blacklisted person in Lapshin .

The extradition in February 2017 of a blogger from Minsk to Baku  caused tension between Armenia and Belarus, and also became the topic  of the foreign policy agenda in Israel and Russia. Russian Foreign  Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia is categorically against the  extradition of a blogger to Azerbaijan, as well as against the  criminalization of visits by Russians to certain regions of the  world. Also, Israel protested in connection with the extradition of  Lapshin. As a result, five states were drawn into and involved in an  international scandal surrounding the blogger.  A court in Baku  sentenced Lapshin to three years in prison. Three months after that,  on September 11, 2017, Ilham Aliyev signed a decree to pardon  Alexander Lapshin, after which he was able to fly from Baku to Tel  Aviv. At the beginning of 2018, Alexander Lapshin filed a lawsuit  against Azerbaijan in the European Court of Human Rights, in which he  accused Azerbaijan of attempted murder, torture, illegal  imprisonment. On December 15, 2018, the ECHR notified Lapshin's  lawyers that he had begun communication with the Azerbaijani  authorities, having decided that the evidence presented about the  attempted murder in a Baku prison, the infliction of grievous bodily  harm and torture was enough to initiate proceedings against  Azerbaijan. On July 3, 2019, the Azerbaijani authorities filed their  objections to Lapshin's lawsuit.