BAKU. Sept 11 (Interfax) - Prominent blogger Alexander Lapshin, a citizen of Russia and Israel, whom Azerbaijan sentenced in July to three years in prison for illegally visiting Nagorno-Karabakh, attempted to commit suicide on Sunday, presidential adviser on sociopolitical affairs Ali Hasanov said.
It was reported earlier that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a directive pardoning Lapshin on Monday.
"Alexander Lapshin attempted to commit suicide the day before. However, prison wards managed to prevent the suicide attempt in time. The blogger has been provided with the necessary medical aid, and he is now under doctors' supervision," Hasanov said in an interview with the state news agency AZERTAC.
Lapshin's extradition to Israel has been under discussion for a long time between the relevant institutions of both countries, which eventually agreed that, after being pardoned by Aliyev, Lapshin would be transferred to Israel, Hasanov said.
"However, unfortunately, the Israeli side dragged out the extradition procedure, which led to an [unpleasant] incident and Lapshin's suicide attempt," Hasanov said.
Following President Aliyev's pardon of Lapshin, his extradition is being handled by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Embassy in Baku, Hasanov said. "This process is likely to be finalized in the very near future," he said.
The Baku Court on Grave Crimes sentenced Lapshin to three years in a general security penitentiary on July 20, 2017.
Lapshin himself said he would seek his extradition to Israel.
Lapshin did not plead guilty to the charges brought against him and acknowledged that Nagorno-Karabakh is Azerbaijan's territory. He insisted that his trips to Nagorno-Karabakh were for purely touristic purposes and were not politically motivated.
According to Baku, Lapshin, a Russian-Israeli citizen, illegally visited Nagorno-Karabakh without obtaining official permission from Azerbaijan in April 2011 and October 2012, thus violating the laws on Azerbaijan's state border and on passports. Apart from that, Lapshin called for the recognition of the independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic on social networks.
Lapshin was put on the 'black list' for having visited Nagorno-Karabakh without the consent of Azerbaijani authorities. Such people cannot enter Azerbaijan. However, Lapshin was able to enter Azerbaijan through Georgia in June 2015, producing a Ukrainian passport with a different spelling of his name.
The investigative department for grave crimes of the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case on charges of repeated public calls against the state and illegally crossing Azerbaijan's state border.
On December 16, 2016 it emerged that Lapshin had been detained in Belarus at the request of Azerbaijan.
The Belarusian Supreme Court denied Lapshin's appeal against his extradition to Azerbaijan on February 7. He was extradited on the same day.