Minsk - A Belarusian boarder guard has been sentenced to two years in jail for failing to report to his superiors about a Swedish plane violating the air space and dropping teddy-bears in defense of freedom of speech.
“Grodno garrison military court has sentenced an ensign from the border force who did not report the violation of the air space by the Swedish airplane to two years of imprisonment,” Interfax was told at the Supreme Court of Belarus on Monday.
He was declared guilty of violating the rules of the border service, a representative of the court said.
The Belarusian media reported on July 4, 2012, that a Swedish public relations firm dropped teddy bears with pro-democracy messages from a light aircraft over the capital of Minsk and nearby the town of Ivenets. The Belarusian Defense Ministry then denied any violations of the country’s airspace and dismissed these reports as a provocation. The State Security Committee of Belarus later started a criminal investigation into the incident and detained two Belarusian citizens, who were subsequently freed but ordered not to leave the country.
On July 31 the president dismissed the head of the State Border Committee Igor Rachkovsky and Air Force commander Dmitry Pakhmelkin and reprimanded several reinforcement top officials.
