Belarus

Following widespread arrests in mid-2011, Belarusian police forces arrested a small number of individuals in late December who were staging a candle-lit protest to mark the one-year anniversary of disputed presidential elections. In the aftermath of those elections, thousands of Belarusians took to the streets to protest against President Alexander Lukashenko's rule, which resulted in a harsh crackdown by the police. We do not see much scope for a relaxing of security measures in the ex-Soviet nation, despite calls by Western European nations and the US for a liberalisation of the country's political

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