Blogger Lapshin complains about Belarus to UN Human Rights Committee

Russian blogger Alexander Lapshin has lodged a complaint about Belarus to the UN Human Rights Committee. Belarus has violated his rights by extraditing him to Azerbaijan, the Russian wrote on livejournal.

"Did anyone doubt that nothing will be done about Belarus and Azerbaijan that committed a crime against me? A number of European human rights institutions and the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva are studying all the details of the incident now. A list of Belarus’ objections (they say that everything was done according to Belarus’ agreements with Azerbaijan) arrived yesterday. They are asking for our objections now. Then the committee will decide whether the Republic of Belarus violated my rights. The complaint about Azerbaijan is being considered separately. They are trying to get closer to the people who stole a few months of my life,” Lapshin wrote on social media.

The blogger is indignant at the fact that Belarus could not extradite him to Israel or Russia. “Do you know why? According to the Belarusian legislation, the Prosecutor General’s Office has the right to refuse extradition to a third state (Azerbaijan) and can only extradite people to their country of citizenship if a criminal case is started against them there. No criminal cases were started against me in Israel or Russia. According to the Belarusian laws, they had no right to ask for my extradition,” he explained.

Lapshin was detained in Minsk on December 15, 2016. The court decided to extradite him to Azerbaijan on February 7. The Russian, Israeli and Armenian authorities protested against the blogger’s extradition. Lapshin was wanted in Azerbaijan for illegal border crossing. The Azerbaijani President pardoned him on September 11.

Lapshin described inhuman conditions in Detention Centre No1 in Minsk. Belarusian rights defender Andrei Bandarenka refuted his statements about the conditions of detainees in Minsk.