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: Presidential Candidate Rymashevsky Released

1000 GMT: The Belarus Prosecutor General has insisted that former Presidential candidates are not complaining about their conditions in detention.

0925 GMT: Presidential candidate Vitaly Rymashevsky has been released on condition that he not leave Minsk. Yuri Klimovich of Rymashevsky's staff has also been freed after 15 days of jail.

Four other opposition candidates, including Vladimir Neklyaev and Andrei Sannikov (see separate entry for video), are still in prison.

About 150 other detainees are expected to be released after serving 15-day sentences. Around 700 people were seized during protests on Election Day on 19 December.

Belarus Updates: The Latest Detentions

1435 GMT: Reports indicated five Presidential candidates --- Andrei Sannikov, Vladimir Neklyaev, Nikolai Statkevich, Vitaly Rymashevsky, and Alexei Mikhalevich have been charged with organizing activities which led to "riots" on Election Day on 19 December.

Under the order, the five men can be detained for two months while investigations continue.

The Guardian of London picks up on the story, reporting "at least four" candidates charged --- it does not list Mikhalevich.

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Belarus Updates: Detained Candidate Neklyaev Finally Sees His Lawyer

1124 GMT: Security Services have searched the home of the deputy chairman of the United Civil Party, Anatoly Lebedko.

Lebedko is in the KGB prison and is reportedly on hunger strike.

1120 GMT: On Wednesday at 9:30 a.m., a court will hear complaints by lawyers for detainees held by the state security service KGB.

Meanwhile, Presidential candidate Vitaly Rymashevsky was interrogated on Monday, with his lawyer managing to meet with him for a second time.

0730 GMT: Presidential candidate Vladimir Neklayev, beaten in the Election Day demonstrations of 19 December and then taken by security forces from his hospital bed, was finally allowed a visit from his lawyer on Monday afternoon.

Neklyaev's morale was "good", according to his lawyer Tamara Sidorenko; however, she added that Neklyaev was complaining of headaches and high blood pressure and "his face remains a huge bruise". Sidorenko said the Government must charge or release her client by Thursday. 

Belarus Updates: Threat of Prosecution Continues for Candidates and Activists

1905 GMT: Political analyst Svetlana Naumova of the Speak Truth campaign has been interrogated by state security service KGB about alleged plans to overthrow the government.

1900 GMT: The lawyer for opposition candidate Vladimir Neklyaev has still not seen her client, who was taken from a hospital bed on Sunday --- having been beaten unconscious by police --- and detain. Neklyaev's wife Olga Neklyaeva says she does not know if he is alive.

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Belarus Updates: 5 Presidential Candidates, 12 Others Accused of "Organising Riots"

UPDATE 1155 GMT: Aleksandr Klaskovsky, the "hero policeman" who urged fellow police not to beat demonstrators on Sunday, has now repented for his "idiotic" actions.

Klaskovsky is the son of the prominent journalist and political analyst by the same name.

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