Eurovision 2013 sponsor involved in a scandal in Sweden
Human rights defenders are outraged that the sponsor of the event is the telecommunication company TeliaSonora, which has tarnished reputation.
The company is blamed for provision of unlimited access to the personal phone numbers and e-mails of citizens to the governments of the post-Soviet countries.
According tot he website evrofor.ru, the investigation of the company's activity is in progress now. TeliaSonora is accused of multi-million bribery to the Karayev's regime of Uzbekistan in exchange for the access to mass telephone market of the country. Also, the company is accused of provision an unlimited access to private phone numbers and e-mails of citizens to the governments of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Tadjikistan and Uzbekistan. These countries' governments use the capacities of TeliaSonora for harassment of their political opponents.
The European Broadcasting Union which supervises the Eurovision song contests offered TeliaSonora the main contract in 2013. Also, it gave the company the right to sponsor last year's contest in Baku.
Photo - ria.ru
