English

Mother hoping for Surapin's release following Lukashenka's remarks

Anton Surapin's mother expressed hope on Friday that the young photographer would be released soon.

When reached by BelaPAN, Alena Surapin said that her hopes were based on Alyaksandr Lukashenka's promise to punish defense officials over a stunt carried out by Swedish nationals earlier this month.

"Hopefully, he will sort out the matter, justice will prevail, let him punish those guilty," she said. "Anton simply did his job."

On July 4, a single-engine plane piloted by representatives of Sweden’s public relations agency Studio Total invaded Belarus' airspace and dropped hundreds of teddy bears with "pro-free speech" signs on the town of Ivyanets and Minsk before flying back to Lithuania unhindered.

Mr. Surapin, 20, was the first to publish images of the teddy bears and was arrested by the Committee for State Security (KGB) on August 13. He is said to be facing a charge of assisting illegal entry.

On July 27, Mr. Surapin met with his lawyer. The latter failed to find out whether the young man had been formally charged.

The photographer told the lawyer that he had watched Mr. Lukashenka make remarks about the incident on television and expressed hope that he would be released.

Speaking on July 26, Mr. Lukashenka warned that some defense officials would lose their jobs next Monday at the latest over the incident.

"I did not rush into making decisions at your request, you wanted to thoroughly investigate the case. At present I see that it has been investigated and the guilty must be punished," he said. He did not mention Mr. Surapin.