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Amnesty International declares arrested photographer Surapin prisoner of conscience

Amnesty International has declared arrested photographer Anton Surapin a prisoner of conscience.

In its statement, the global human rights watchdog says that the 20-year-old Surapin, who has been held in the detention center of the Committee for State Security (KGB) in Minsk in connection with a pro-democracy stunt carried out by Sweden's public relations agency Studio Total, has been "charged solely for the non-violent expression of his conscientiously held beliefs."

On July 4, a single-engine plane piloted by Studio Total representatives invaded Belarus' airspace and dropped hundreds of teddy bears with "pro-free speech" signs on the town of Ivyanets and Minsk.

The news site Belarusian News Photos, founded by Mr. Surapin, now a fourth-year student at Belarusian State University's Journalism Institute, ran the photos of the teddy bears with miniature placards lying on the grass hours after the drop. In his comments, Mr. Surapin said that he had received them from an anonymous author living outside Minsk.

The KGB arrested Mr. Surapin on July 13 after a raid on his home. The young man was said to be facing a charge of assisting illegal entry. //BelaPAN