nickturse:

Journalist in Belarus arrested for publishing pictures of teddy bears

Roy Greenslade of the BBC reports that Anton Suryapin, who runs a website called Belarusian News Photos, was arrested by the KGB for publishing photos of teddy bears pinned with press freedom messages.  The bears were air-dropped into the country by the Swedish Ad Agency Studio Total “in order to highlight the international media’s neglect of press freedom violations in Belarus.”

“Are Belarusian security agents worried that teddy bears are engaged in an illegal border crossing?” asked Nina Ognianova, a coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists in Europe and Central Asia.  “It would be hard to keep a straight face about these absurd charges were it not for the fact that Anton Suryapin is sitting in jail.”