Belarus Updates: More Raids and International Statements

1130 GMT: The heads of the diplomatic missions of European Union countries have sent a note to the Foreign Ministry expressing concern about the situation, asking for information about the health of detainees, and requesting meetings with the four Presidential candidates who are in prison.

Speaking at a press conference, the Hungarian Ambassador, Ferenc Kontra, said it was important to get the information before the EU discussion on 12 January about the situation in Belarus.

The EU ambassadors had met with the wives of the Presidential candidates and other political prisoners.

1115 GMT: Officers from the state security service KGB have raided the offices of the Belarus Helsinki Committee and are interrogating the head of the committee, Oleg Gulak.

The KGB is also reportedly looking for the leaders of the Belarus Free Theatre, which is currently on tour in New York.

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Belarus Updates: A Cancelled Press Conference and Possible Sanctions

2045 GMT: More searches and interrogations by the security services today: Anastasia Loiko of the human rights group Vyasna, Alexander Makayev of the Businessmen's Movement, human rights activist and journalist Vladimir Khilmanovich, and activists Andrei Presnyakov and Alexander Petkevich.

1725 GMT: Presidential candidate Vitaly Rymashevsky, who was released yesterday from detention but then cancelled a press conference to avoid re-arrest (see 0940 GMT), has given a cautious interview.

Rymashevsky said he had written President Lukashenko but it was not possible to reveal the contents of the letters. He added that his first priority was to secure the freedom of other detainees.

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Belarus Updates: OSCE Supervision Office Shut Down; Poland and Germany Make a Move

Belarussian authorities have shut down the local office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which was monitoring the Presidential election.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said, without referring to the election, that there were "no objective reasons for retaining" the OSCE's mission.

The OSCE had said that many counts in the balloting had been "very bad". The European Union had warned Belarus that billions in economic aid rested on a positive report by the OSCE on the vote. 

Meanwhile, the heads of the Polish and German Parlaiment's Foreign Affairs Committees have issued a joint declaration that the presidential elections in Belarus showed a “complete lack of respect for European values and standards".

The declaration appeals to other foreign ministers in the European Union to hold a meeting of the European Council to decide on a response.

The head of the Polish Foreign Affairs Committee, Andrzej Halicki, said  a meeting is planned with the head of the International Affairs Committee in the Russian Duma, Konstantin Kosachev.