Andrei Sannikov addresses Israeli PM

The leader of the civil campaign European Belarus comments on the scandalous remark by the Israeli diplomat.

“Amb. Chagall has to be immediately recalled from Belarus for his unacceptable statements on political prisoners,” Andrei Sannikov wrote on Twitter addressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel's ambassador made a derogatory remark about the Belarusian political prisoners in an interview with RTVI some days ago. “From our point of view, they are criminals, because they were convicted for hooliganism, for throwing stones, for degrading the authorities and so on,” he said.

The ambassador's position on the political prisoner was earlier criticised in Belarus. Answering a question about political prisoners in the country at a press conference in 2012, he said: “I am a citizen of Israel. We don't have any political prisoners. As for Belarus, I don't know about it. I need to read newspapers.”