MINSK – Andrei Dmitriyev, who stood in the Belarusian presidential election in 2020, was detained in Belarus on Aug. 12, the unregistered Belarusian human rights center Viasna said.
“Andrei Dmitriyev, a candidate in the 2020 presidential election, was detained in the morning of August 12,” Viasna said on Telegram.
It noted that Dmitriyev is a co-chairman of the Tell the Truth civil association and a delegate of the Skhod (Assembly) platform.
The homes of Skhod delegates were searched in Belarus on Aug. 11, human rights activists said in earlier reports. Some delegates, including former Belarusian Ambassador to Slovakia Igor Leshchenya, were detained.
The Tell the Truth research and education association was registered in Belarus in May 2017. The Justice Ministry began an unscheduled check of the association’s activity on July 13.
Tell the Truth is a campaign launched in Belarus at the beginning of 2010, which served as the basis for the nomination of Vladimir Neklyayev for president in 2010. Neklyayev quit the campaign in April 2015, and Dmitriyev was elected as his replacement. Tell the Truth campaign activist Tatyana Korotkevich was nominated for president in 2015.
Dmitriyev ran for president in 2020.
