Kyrgyz ambassador to Belarus Erik Ansanaliyev has been sacked after images of the wanted former Kyrgyz president’s brother made in Minsk appeared on the internet.

The Kyrgyz president’s press service said in a statement on Monday that Ansanaliyev, who also served as the country’s ambassador to Latvia and Lithuania and envoy to the Commonwealth of Independent States, was “relieved of all his duties according to a presidential decree.”

In late August, Ansanaliyev was summoned to Kyrgyzstan for consultations after Belarus ignored the August 21 diplomatic note concerning the presence of Kyrgyz national Zhanybek Bakiyev, who is wanted for serious crimes, on its territory.

The Kyrgyz Interior Ministry said Zhanybek Bakiyev, a brother of deposed president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, and two other people - Takhir Rysaliyev and Rustam Saiduyev - were photographed “by eyewitnesses near an elite Belarusian restaurant close to the Belarusian president’s administration.”

All three are on the Interpol wanted list on charges of triple murder of the former presidential administration chief Medet Sadyrkulov, chief of the International Institute of Strategic Studies Sergei Slepchenko, and driver Kubat Sulaimanov.

Last Tuesday, Kyrgyzstan requested the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to assist in the extradition of the three suspects.