Connect the Internet, or Aliyev will end up completely in the realm of imagination: Lapshin on Aliyev's statement about capturing Mataghis

Notable blogger and journalist Alexander Lapshin, who was included in the "blacklist" by official Baku for visiting Nagorno-Karabakh, made a Facebook post addressing the recent developments in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"Sometimes I have the feeling that Ilham Aliyev is kept completely isolated in the presidential palace and is not aware of what is happening at all. My trust in Azerbaijani media is approximately equal to zero, but upon reading in Haqqin.az that they captured the village of Mataghis, I became worried. This village is located on a key road leading to another village, Talish. And I know a few families in Talish; do they have any problems? I called and heard a cheerful voice asking me how I was doing. My? Yes, everything is fine with me, how are you? They say there are gunshots around, many houses are damaged, but they are holding up. The children have been taken away, the older ones have remained. Yesterday the Azerbaijanis almost entered the village, they were nearby, but they were pushed back beyond the initial line of the border, and now everything is fine. Everything is also fine with Mataghis; no one has captured it. I tell them that Azerbaijani media is reporting that their village has been seized and even renamed it Sutovushan. They laugh and say, why don't they just rename Baku immediately, why waste time on trifles. Ah, enough of torturing the sultan, connect his internet or else 'he is completely in the realm of imagination,'" wrote Lapshin.

It should be noted that Alexander Lapshin was arrested in 2016 in Belarus at the request of Azerbaijan. Official Baku included the blogger in the "blacklist" for visiting the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh without their approval. The Supreme Court of Belarus rejected Lapshin's appeal on February 7, 2017, regarding the decision of the Prosecutor General's Office of Belarus to extradite him to Azerbaijan. On the same day, Lapshin was transferred from Minsk to Baku on a special flight, accompanied by state security service officers. On July 20, a verdict was announced in the Baku court concerning the Russian and Israeli citizen blogger; he was sentenced to 3 years in prison. On September 11, 2017, Ilham Aliyev granted clemency to Lapshin.