A Russian diplomat to the UN Human Rights Council has been accused of threatening a human rights activist with a screenshot from popular television show “Game of Thrones,” the New York Times reported Tuesday.
The diplomat allegedly sent Florin Irminger, head of advocacy at the Oslo-based Human Rights House Network (HRHN), an anonymous Twitter message in March. The message contained a picture of a bloodied and skinned body from the American television show, along with the words, “our blades are sharp,” the New York Times reported.
Irminger said that he didn't consider the message a physical threat, but that it was a reminder of how Russia treats human rights activists.
Council president Choi Kyong-lim condemned the message during a council session on Monday, calling the message “completely unacceptable.” The diplomat in question has been issued an administrative reprimand.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that their investigation into the incident concluded that the message was “‘basically a joke,’ albeit an unfortunate one,” the New York Times reported.
HRHN has offices in Russia and several other Eastern European countries. On Monday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein urged Russia to change their law current law forcing human rights organizations receiving money from abroad to register as “foreign agents.”
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