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Belarus summons Swedish teddy-bear raiders as suspects

Published time: August 07, 2012 21:09
Edited time: August 09, 2012 19:37
Image from www.studiototal.se/teddybears

Two Swedish pilots who carried out a teddy-bear assault on Belarus have been requested by the country’s officials to return to Minsk as suspects in a criminal probe. The fate of two arrested Belarusians depends on their showing up, authorities add.

In July, two Swedes flying a small plane discharged a teddy-bear bombardment on Belarus. Hundreds of plush provocateurs were parachuted down with “Support freedom of speech!” messages as the plane was flying over the capital, Minsk.

Belarus' KGB has detained and charged two Belarusian nationals over the teddy-bear "invasion". The two are accused of aiding foreigners to violate the country’s border.

One of the detained men is journalist Anton Suryapin, who was the first in Belarus to report the landing plush troops. The other one, Sergey Bashamirov, was put in custody on the suspicion that he let the two Swedes an apartment while they were planning their operation.

“The Swedish nationals who organized and carried out the operation are invited to come to Minsk to take part in the investigation as suspects,” the KGB press service said on Tuesday, adding the court would use the evidence provided to make a final decision on Suryapin’s and Bashamirov’s destinies.

If convicted, the two Belarusians may face up to seven years in prison and may be also deprived of property.

It looks like Suryapin and Bashamirov have simply been taken hostage,” Victor Demidov, a political scientist in Belarus, tells Novaya Gazeta. “The KGB makes a condition: if the Swedish pilots do not turn up for the interview, two Belarusian students will get jail terms. Though it is understood already that the latter two have nothing to do with the incident.

Swedes are ready to go to Belarus if immunity is guaranteed

Belarus’s KGB has not yet contacted "the organizers and performers" of the teddy bear bombardment in person, says the owner of the Swedish advertisement agency, Studio Total, which orchestrated the stunt.

We need an official invitation sent via the post office; a statement on a website is not enough,” Per Cromwell told Belarusian news agency BelaPAN. “These are the conditions: an official invitation and, of course, immunity, a guarantee we won’t be charged when we arrive in Belarus.

Cromwell is sure that Belarus considers them offenders, but he is unsure whether the KGB can punish them in any way on Swedish soil.

What we have managed is that public awareness of the state of affairs in Belarus has skyrocketed. Hundreds, thousands, of news articles have emerged,” says Cromwell. The owner of the PR company admits, however, that he does not know what his Foreign Ministry thinks of the operation.

Swedish media say the plane entered Belarusian airspace from Lithuania and as the cargo was emptied, the pilots simply turned around and flew to Sweden. This meant an unauthorized, but still safe, 90-minute journey for the two pilots.

The incident was first shrugged off by the country’s authorities as a foreign propaganda stunt, but eventually led to resignation of  Belarus’ top brass. Soon after it, the stunt snowballed into a full-scale diplomatic row.

At first Minsk chose not to prolong the accreditation of the Swedish ambassador to Belarus, with Stockholm in return expelling two Belarusian top diplomats. Now Belarus, frustrated by the asymmetric reaction, is closing its embassy in Stockholm and has told the EU country that it has until August 30 to recall its entire diplomatic staff from Minsk.

Image from www.studiototal.se/teddybears
Image from www.studiototal.se/teddybears
Image from www.studiototal.se/teddybears
Image from www.studiototal.se/teddybears

Comments (32)

Pjabasa (unregistered) 09.08.2012 13:35

Swede (unregistered) wrote in #8
Pjabasa. I´m sorry but you will have to give better examples of media dictatorship and "brainwashing". Your arguments right now are nonexistent. Simply claiming I´m being manipulated but I´m unaware of it is nonsensical if you don´t have anything to back that up with. I´m even starting to question if you even live in Sweden. 
---

Swede,
you seem truly interested in learning the truth regarding how SD - and the readers - was treated by media in Sweden.
I don't know why you question I'm a Swede? Need I prove it?
Ok:
-How much is enough for a Swede?
-Lagom.
There you go.

I already gave you a reference for alternative news.

You can also read this book:

"Proble mpartiet - Mediernas villrådighet kring SD valet 2010 " by the Swedish Journalist Björn Häger

There have also been several attacks against SD politicians - and it's only a coincidence that they haven't managed to kill anyone yet.

Unfortun ately, we also have our PM Reinfeldt, setting the level of disgusting attitude towards those SD politicians physically attacked:

htt p://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=5bGn6ocOoaY

In the clip above, our PM Reinfeldt basically told the victims of political violence that it's their own fault.
Our foreign Minister Carl Bildt called Lukasjenko a hooligan. That label would fit our PM Reinfeldt too.
Media failed to follow up this outrageous attitude, from Our Own Prime Minister, with coverage matching the significance of his words.
He IS supposed to defend any victim of political violence in his own country - he choose not to.

I'm not fond of Lukasjenko.
Putin is not my favorite.
But I still realize that our media - which is supposed to balanced and fair, our unions, our schools, almost all our politicians are leading the people like sheep towards the abyss of multiculturalism.
You can chose not to see it.
You can chose to deny it's an abyss.
I don't know which statement is correct for you?

I've been speaking to many SD supporters - common nice people with immigrant friends - and they are afraid to be open about their political view. Afraid to get harassed. Afraid that their children in school will be harassed. Afraid to be kicked out from the union. Afraid to lose their jobs.

Is this freedom of speech?
Or are these signs that shows we're living in a pseudo-democracy in Sweden?

0

Undo

Swede2 09.08.2012 12:10

Swede (unregistered) wrote in #2 Pjabasa: I´m actually swedish and I couldn´t disagree with you more. To claim that you rather live in a dictatorship than an ill functioning democracy is not only illogical but makes me question your sanity. There is no arguing that the standard of living and personal freedoms is much higher in the scandinavian democracies than almost anywhere else in the world. Freedom implies responsibilities and thinking for yourself so If you rather live in a country where you aren´t allowed to express yourself, where most of the population lives in poverty and where corruption is around every corner than you are free to do that.
The swedish democrats are a far right party. They don´t want to stop imigration per say but want to limit it. The issue with the party is it´s far right ties and a poor political program. The link you are giving is simply a Swedish news page and that simply proves my point.. that free press still exists in Sweden. Tack ska du ha :)

A typ ical example on how Swedish media is brainwashing it's readers is by simply selling lies. If you for example read any of the texts from Julia Caesar who used to work for one of the top newspapers in Sweden she explains that the only way to get ahead in media is to write negative about the Swedish democrats.  For example never only name the party but always put a negative comment in front f.ex "The racist". 
The Swedish Democrats are indeed a right wing party but not to the extreme. They don't want to trow all immigrants out indeed but they want to limit the immigration of family members of "children" coming on there own. They also want to up the work done in war areas and work towards a better society.    
Sweden is nothing more then a politically correct dictatorship where you are allowed free speech, free vote's as long as you agree with what mainstream media tell you to think, if you don't you will be called a "racist" uneducated hillbilly etc. 
Oh now I went a bit off topic as a reply to the discussion of Swedish media.
The truth about this teddy bear action is yeah it's just teddy bears but the pilots entered the country's borders without permission and spread a message against the government. So this is nothing more then a act of terrorism (non violent but still). 
This is probably the work of the Bush family and friends in their quest for controlling the worlds oil reserve.

+1

Undo

Dr No (unregistered) 09.08.2012 00:16

Oh the irony. Sweden, where critics of immigration and the multicultural utopian project are villified by media and authorities on a daily basis, is now demanding other countries to allow free speech! If anybody should be bombarded with teddy bears it's the cultural marxists that rule in Stockholm.

+2

Undo

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