Trial over participants of “teddy bear photo session” in Minsk
Minsk’s Sovetsky District Court fined both participants of a photo session with teddy bears held earlier in the Belarusian capital.
Nasha Niva newspaper photojournalist, Yulia Doroshkevich, photo, and Komsomolskaya Pravda v Belorussii newspaper journalist Irina Kozlik were detained in central Minsk on Wednesday evening.
The journalists were accused of holding an unauthorized flash mob. They allegedly took photos with teddy bears to support Anton Suryapin and Sergei Basharimov, who were detained earlier. Photo: Irina Kozlik in front of the Sovetsky District Court.
In early June, teddy bears with mottos in support of free speech were thrown out of a Swedish plane that illegally crossed into Belarusian airspace.
Suryapin, who posted the pictures of the teddy bears on his website, is still being held in an isolation cell at the State Security Committee on charges of aiding a "teddy bear descent." Bashamirov was leasing apartments for short term. The Swedes, who were providing support in the flight from the ground, may have rented an apartment from Bashmirov. Photo: Irina Kozlik and Yulia Doroshkevich