The NZ Herald reports
Fallout from teddy-drop continues in Belarus
Mazetti and Frey intruded Belarus' airspace with a Swedish light plane and dropped in hundreds of teddy bears decked out in parachutes and slogans supporting human rights. Photo / AP
In the past few weeks, the Belarusian dictator, Alexander Lukashenko,
has fired the chief of his air force and border patrol; shut down the Swedish
Embassy and kicked out the ambassador; and last week fired his foreign
minister. The reason? Teddy bears.
In early July, Tomas Mazetti, a marketing executive with the Swedish
firm Studio Total, took off in a single-engine propeller plane from Lithuania,
donned a bear mask, and headed for Belarus. Once inside, he released his cargo:
several hundred teddy bears carrying slogans calling for democracy and
increased freedom of expression.
Initially, the Belarus authorities denied it had ever happened, but when
photos started appearing online, all hell broke loose. "Was this the
stupidity of specific actors or systemic mistakes in the defence of the
airspace?" Lukashenko raged at his security chiefs, demanding to know why
the plane had not been shot down.
Nadzeya Ostapchuck denied she took drugs whilst fraudulently winning the Gold at the olympics but the truth has a strange habit of getting out.
Anton Suryapin, a 20-year-old photographer who had started his own news
agency, was sent photographs of the teddy bears landing and published them on
his website.
Perhaps the most disturbing victims of the stunt are two locals who
appear to have had very little to do with it.
They sparked lots of discussion online, but nothing more happened for
more than a week. Then on July 13, the police and KGB arrived at his apartment.
They searched the place for evidence that Suryapin had been personally involved
in the drop, and whisked him off to the infamous Amerikanka prison, where he
spent the next month.
No surprises here. Belarus is a waste of space.
No surprises here. Belarus is a waste of space.
He was charged under Article 371 of the Belarus criminal code,
"illegal crossing of the state boundary".
"I am a quiet, peaceful person," said Suryapin, who was
released two weeks ago and banned from leaving the small town of Slutsk.
"I am not political, I just want to do independent journalism, as much as
that is possible in Belarus."
A fair ambition but hopelessly naive in a region not yet adjusted to the post cold war era.
A fair ambition but hopelessly naive in a region not yet adjusted to the post cold war era.
Suryapin says he knew when he posted the photographs that it would be a
scandal, but he did not imagine that he would be arrested. "I had the
first pictures, and it was my duty as a journalist to publish them. I had no
contact with these Swedes or with any other Swedes."
Sergei Basharimov, an estate agent, was jailed for renting an apartment
in Minsk to Studio Total. Mazetti says he did not tell either of the arrested
men, or any Belarusians, about his plans. Both have been released, but could
still be jailed for up to seven years.
What the F... his involvement was to rent an office this is astonishing. Paranoia writ large.
What the F... his involvement was to rent an office this is astonishing. Paranoia writ large.
The KGB has demanded that Mazetti and his colleagues appear in Minsk for
questioning, a request that was met with ridicule, in an open letter in which
they called Lukashenko an "armed clown".
While some in the Belarusian opposition think it was a good way to show
up the absurdity of Lukashenko's regime, not everyone was impressed.
Alexander Feduta, a political analyst who spent part of last year in
jail for backing a rival candidate to Lukashenko in 2010, said: "It's a
phenomenal example of idiocy, and they are lucky they didn't get shot down and
killed."
Really I wouldn't have thought there was much risk of that when the state is so obviously incompetent.
Really I wouldn't have thought there was much risk of that when the state is so obviously incompetent.
Mazetti said the response from Lukashenko shows he is rattled.
"Lukashenko is starting to behave irrationally. When a dictator
starts doing this, as we've seen this year in lots of other countries across
the world, the only way is downhill. It's only a matter of time."
Hard to argue with that assessment.
Hard to argue with that assessment.
-
Independent
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