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Kyrgyzstan fires ambassador to Belarus

Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev on Monday dismissed Erik Asanaliev from the position of ambassador to Belarus.

The Kyrgyz president's press office did not give any reason for the dismissal of the diplomat, who was recalled from Belarus in August.

Mr. Asanaliev attended a meeting of the Kyrgyz parliament's foreign affairs committee on Monday to report on his work in Belarus.

The ambassador was recalled from Belarus on August 24 "for consultations" over Minsk's refusal to arrest and extradite Zhanybek (Zhanysh) Bakiyev, a brother of Kyrgyz former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

The row erupted after Zhanybek Bakiyev was spotted and photographed on a downtown street in Minsk on August 17 by Belarusian opposition activist Mikhail Pashkevich. Mr. Bakiyev, who was the head of Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s presidential guard service, was photographed along with Tahir Rysaliev, 55, the former deputy head of the service who was a fellow university student of Zhanybek Bakiyev; and Rustam Sayduev, 36, a friend of Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s son Maksim. All the three are the prime suspects in the murder in March 2009 of Medet Sadyrkulov, a former head of the Presidential Administration; Sergei Slepchenko, director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and Kubat Sulaymanov, the driver of the car they were in.

Zhanybek Bakiyev is also believed to have given the order to shoot at a crowd of protesters in Bishkek in April 2010, which left more than 80 people dead. //BelaPAN