Amnesty International urges Belarus to release “teddy bear” free speech activist
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE
24 July 2012
Belarus urged to release “teddy bear” free speech
activist
A photographer and journalism student faces up to seven
years in prison after posting pictures of a stunt involving teddy bears to draw
attention to violations of freedom of expression in Belarus, prompting Amnesty
International to call for his immediate release.
Photographer Anton
Suryapin, 20, was detained on 13 July under suspicion of having assisted an
organized group illegally to cross the border of Belarus. According to
Belarusian law he should have been charged or released before 23 July. He was
not released on Monday and Amnesty International assumes therefore that he was
charged.
“The charges against Anton Suryapin represent a further nail
in the coffin of freedom of expression and association in Belarus, where
spurious charges are frequently used in an attempt to silence those working to
defend human rights,” said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Director for
Europe and Central Asia.
“He should be released immediately and the
charges against him dropped.”
The charges came after staff of a Swedish
advertising company, Studio Total, flew a small plane across the Belarusian
border and dropped hundreds of teddy bears carrying placards in support of free
speech over north-western Belarus on the country’s Independence Day, 4
July.
The Belarusian Ministry of Defence denies that an aircraft flew
over Belarusian airspace without permission and says the video footage of the
event was a fabrication.
Suryapin was detained on 13 July after posting
the photographs on the website Belarusian News Photos. He stated on the website
that he received the pictures from an unknown source. He had no connection with
Studio Total and merely posted the pictures as part of his journalistic
activities.
Amnesty International considers Anton Suryapin to be a
prisoner of conscience, charged solely for the non-violent expression of his
conscientiously held beliefs.
Studio Total says the teddy-bear stunt was
carried out to highlight the clampdown on freedom of expression in Belarus.
Video footage released by the agency on 5 July shows two people wearing teddy
bear masks throwing toy bears out of the aeroplane. Police in the Belarus town
of Ivyanets gathered up the teddy bears, but eye witnesses interviewed by Radio
Free Europe and Belarusian independent media stated that they had seen the teddy
bears fall from the aircraft.
Syarhei Basharimau, who works for a rental
agency in Minsk was detained on 10 July. He was charged on 16 July under Article
371 Part 3 of the Criminal Code, the same article under which Suryapin is being
held, and could also face up to seven years in prison. He reportedly rented a
flat to the two Swedes who were supporting their colleagues in the
air.
Amnesty International is asking for the charges against Syarhei
Basharimau to be dropped and for him to be released.
In an interview with
Belarusian news website Charter 97 on 18 July, Studio Total’s Tomas Mazetti
denounced the arrests and said the Swedish advertising agency had had no contact
with Anton Suryapin. He added that Syarhei Basharimau had merely handed them the
key to a rental apartment.
Charter 97 reported last week that a
16-year-old girl from Ivyanets was briefly detained, questioned and released,
because it is believed whe took the photographs posted by
Suryapin.
“It's like arresting a bartender who sold us beer in Minsk,”
Mazetti told Charter97.
Studio Total say that their campaign is inspired
by an action in Minsk in February this year, where activist Pavel Vinogradov set
up a group of stuffed animals carrying placards calling for Freedom of
expression and complaining of police brutality.
Vinogradov was later
sentenced to ten days’ administrative detention for his action.