Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the arrest by the Belarusian authorities of former presidential candidate Andrey Dmitriev.

The detention of Andrey Dzmitryeu is a further unacceptable act of repression by the Belarusian authorities. It is the right of citizens in a democracy to stand in elections. Mr Dzmitryeu should not face persecution for his political views.

There are nearly 1500 political prisoners in Belarus and we urge authorities to release them all, immediately and unconditionally. We continue to work on accountability measures for human rights violations, including through the International Accountability Platform for Belarus and our sanctions regime.