That´s it. Finally the last dictator of Europe is cornered. No way out! The illegitimate president of Belarus is cornered by a bunch of plush teddy bears (879 of them to be precise) from Sweden bearing messages calling for freedom of speech and human rights in Belarus. Each proud hero-bear was dropped from the sky all over Belarus with its own individual parachute and was holding a pro-democracy messages such as "We Support the Belarussian Struggle for Free Speech." Definitely dictator Lukashenko and his KGB gang members got scared.
The assault on dictatorship was apparently carried out by two Swedes, Tomas Mazetti and Hannah Frey, working for Swedish PR Agency Studio Total, who said they learned to fly and piloted the small plane from Lithuania into Belarusian airspace as their own personal effort to dramatize the struggle for Human Rights in Belarus.
In an interview with Foreign Policy, Mr. Mazetti and Ms. Frey explained why they used teddy bears.
TM: There are few examples in history of forcing a dictator to step down through money or weapons alone, and of course one should protest his actions. But a campaign using teddy bears has been received warmly in Belarus, and many people think that it's very funny.
HF: The idea to use the teddy-bear grams was not ours. It originated with an opposition group in Belarus called Speak the Truth. They used teddy bears to spread their message. After we decided to carry out some sort of protest, we saw what they had done, and that's how we arrived at using the teddy bears.
As Charetr97.org reported later on, a light Swedish aircraft overflew the Belarusian border on July 4th, 2012. Teddy bears with pro-democracy labels were dropped from the plane over the town of Ivyanets and on the outskirts of Minsk. The Belarusian authorities refused to admit the fact of the flight until July 26 saying "the investigation is under way". Photographer Anton Suryapin, who published photos of teddy bears found near Ivanets on the internet, and Real Estate Agent Sergei Basharymov, who rented an apartment to the Swedes, were detained. They were charged with violation of Part 6 of Article 16 (aiding and abetting) and Part 3 of Article 371 (illegal crossing the state border of Belarus). Both may face up from three to seven years in prison. How is it funny now?
There´s no doubt that allegations against Surapin and Basharymov are groundless and absurd. They have never helped Swedes in any kind of "illegal crossing the state border of Belarus". As always Belarusian KGB is looking for people to blame. They did the same with the other two young guys - Vladislav Kovalev and Dmitriy Konovalov in spring of this year, blaming them in blowing up the Oktyabrskaya subway station. In May 2012 Kovalev and Konovalov were executed. And their participation in a "terror act" was never actually proven. The ruling was based on trivial and inconclusive evidence.
Now the Belarusian KGB is looking for new fresh victims, and offers organizers of the teddy bear air-drop to come to Minsk to give evidence as suspects. "In the interests of an unbiased investigation of the criminal case and figuring out all details of intrusion into the airspace of the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Lithuania, the State Security Committee offers the Swedish citizens, who took part in organizing and performing the illegal border overflying, to arrive in Minsk as suspects to take part in the investigative procedures, including face-to-face interrogations", the KGB Information Center reports. "Final procedural decisions in relation to the Belarusian citizens involved in the criminal case will be made after that."
The Belarusian KGB security service is demanding that representatives of the Swedish PR Agency Studio Total, of which Mr. Mazetti and Ms. Frey are employees, come in for questioning. "We want to have an objective, comprehensive investigation of the case, and an explanation of all aspects of the intrusion into Belarusian airspace," a KGB spokesperson told journalists at a press-conference.
Swedish PR Agency Studio Total commented to Charter97.org on the invitation of its employees to the Belarusian KGB to give evidences: "Studio Total can comment charges only after it will get acquainted with them. But the publication of photographs on the Internet cannot be illegal. Moreover, the fact of border crossing and airdrop of bears was confirmed by Lukashenko himself. That means that there is nothing far-fetched in the photos, which were just (!) posted on the Internet by Anton Suryapin. As to Sergei Basharymov, if he is arrested, then one have to arrest and indict everyone: those who have rented a car to us, sold us airline tickets... There is no logic in that, no sense. Just an attempt to demonstrate its power. Irrational actions from the side of Alexander Lukashenko, who, apparently, is in despair and poorly perceives what is going on."
"Studio Total has not received any written invitation from the Belarusian KGB yet, so it is difficult to comment. But let them send - Studio Total will read with interest and think about it", - said Thomas Mazetti, the one who conducted the flight to Belarus. The pilot also reported that now lots of anonymous letters with threats come to the studio - probably from representatives of the Belarusian security services.
As Harry Pahanyaila, Human Rights Activist, told in his interview to the press service of Belarusian Association of Journalists: "Those details, which the KGB reports today - is actually an invitation of the citizens of Sweden to come to Belarus, where they will be arrested and where they also will be indicted. To expect that the Swedes will come here? Ridiculous. Moreover, Belarus has repeatedly demonstrated a lack of justice in such cases. "
According to the human rights defender, prisoners Suryapin and Basharimov in the KGB jail are now in the position of hostages.
"They are just an object of a blackmail - we, say, can, probably, let them go, if someone would come here and give evidences ... There are words of the need of identification parades, interrogations to find out how objectively were accused Belarusian citizens. Hence, the investigation has no sufficient evidences of the involvement of these persons to the crime? This does not correspond to the norms of the Criminal Procedure Code, not to the traditions that exist in democratic states in the prosecution of criminal offenses.
If it was civilized and democratic, no one would prevent our services to send appropriate requests to the prosecutor´s office in Sweden about the interrogation of the citizens of this country, involved in the offense. And so, without seeking their arrival here, get the necessary information. The state itself is, of course, hardly will surrender its citizens, but they could provide the necessary information on the circumstances of the initiated criminal case in Belarus", - said Harry Pahanyaila.
As a revenge for «teddy-bears bombing» dictator Lukashenko expelled Sweden Ambassador Stefan Eriksson and also proposed to withdraw the Embassy of Sweden from Belarus by August 30th, 2012. Yet the context and consequences of this revenge run deeper. Lukashenka has long sought to neuter Western embassies in Minsk. In 2008, he threw out the United States Ambassador and most of its staff. Earlier this year, he expelled the Polish and EU Envoys, and subsequently stated that he would decide, which European Ambassadors would be allowed to stay. Apparently, the Swedish Ambassador was not one of them.
Nothing is more important, however, than a strong and engaged presence of European diplomats in Belarus. Lukashenka long since purged his country of most Western institutions. No international organization dealing with democracy and human rights remains since the OSCE was forced to close its office. No major Western NGOs or foundations are allowed in Belarus, and cooperation with and funding from them is a criminal offense under Belarusian Law. This makes Western Embassies the only legal contact point and partner for those that strive for democratic change in Belarus.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt has no doubts the Belarusian ruler stands behind the new diplomatic row. "Lukashenka behaves like a bandit. I don't know why he chose escalation. It's not a secret that our democracy program has been annoying the Belarusian authorities for a long time. They just demonstrated their anger now. No doubts that Lukashenka stands behind this," the Swedish Foreign Minister said in an interview for TT news agency.
Also outraged Lukashenko dismissed head of the State Border Committee Major General Igor Rachkouski and the Commander of the Air and Air Defence Forces Major General Dmitriy Pakhmelkin. In reality he was supposed to dismiss his National Security Advisor - his son - Victor Lukashenko and then to dismiss himself.
Because in the summer of 1996, 70 deputies of the 199-member Belarusian Parliament signed a petition to impeach Lukashenko on charges of violating the Constitution. Shortly after that a referendum was held on November 24th, 1996 in which four questions were offered by Lukashenko and three offered by a group of Parliament members. The measures passed, but faced international and internal condemnation. On 25 November, it was announced that 70.5% of voters, on an 84% turnout, had approved an amended constitution that greatly increased Lukashenko's power. The United States and the European Union, however, refused to accept the legitimacy of the referendum. By most accounts, the new constitution turned his presidency into a legal dictatorship. So, dictator Lukashenko is illegitimate president anyway since the time of his impeachment in summer 1996 and a rigged referendum of November 24th.
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