03/06/2020 (Agence Europe) – On 2 June, Robert Biedroń (S&D, Poland), the Chair of the European Parliament’s Delegation for relations with Belarus, and Petras Auštrevičius (Renew Europe, Lithuania), the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Belarus, criticised more arrests of presidential candidates, political opponents and peaceful demonstrators in Belarus ahead of the 9 August elections. “We are deeply concerned about the continued failure of the Belarusian authorities to improve the election environment and their manifest lack of intention to create conditions for a genuine level playing field between the candidates”, they said in a statement. The MEPs called for the immediate release of all citizens who have been “unjustly arrested" and for a halt to be put to this “unacceptable” wave of repression. They stated that the arrests constitute “yet another attack on the fundamental freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly, as well as a direct interference in the election process”. (CG)