Excellency,
in December 2016 Mr. Alexander Lapshin, an Israeli citizen, was arrested in Belarus. He was detained, based on an arrest warrant issued in Azerbaijan, extended by Interpol. Criminal prosecution was launched against Alexander Lapshin by Azerbaijan, due to his trips to Nagorno-Karabakh and the support of Nagorno-Karabakh in the dispute with Azerbaijan he had presented in his blogs published in Russian media, as well as in media of other countries. The accusation of Alexander Lapshin is of clear political character and according to Interpol Statutes he should not be prosecuted through Interpol. In Azerbaijan, Alexander Lapshin was sentenced to 8 years and he is in prison. The media news claims, Azerbaijan authorities have been offering Alexander Lapshin to set him free, should he acknowledge his guilt and apologize to Azerbaijan.
I, the below signed František Mikloško, was also criminally prosecuted in Azerbaijan, and possibly the prosecution has still been going on, due to my participation in an international observation mission for parliamentary elections in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2010. The arrest warrant on my person was also extended by Interpol. But pursuant to a complaint lodged both by the Slovak Republic and Armenia, Interpol deleted my name from the list of wanted people, because it accepted my accusation was of a political character. I was lucky not to enter a country cooperating with Azerbaijan in these matters, while I was on the Interpol list.
Your Excellency, we address You, so that the State of Israel takes all possible steps to make Alexander Lapshin free. His visit to Nagorno-Karabakh led him to people who had been defending the land of their ancestors in a heroic way and his blogs paid tribute to those people. His arrest and conviction is in contradiction with the General Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Azerbaijan, as a United Nations member state, also committed to respect the Charter. The release of Alexander Lapshin cannot be conditioned by his pleading guilty to crimes not committed by him.
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We consider raising our voices on making Alexander Lapshin free to be our moral duty.
Bratislava, March 6, 2017
František Mikloško
MP of the Slovak Parliament in 1990 – 2010
Speaker of the Slovak Parliament in 1990 – 1992
Ján Čarnogurský
Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic in 1991 – 1992
Vladimír Palko
Minister of Interior of the Slovak Republic in 2002 – 2006
Ashot Grigorian
Forum of Armenian Associations of Europe
Radovan Pavlík
Journalist, SITA Agency
