In his address, Swenneling noted that the presidential elections, which have been held in Belarus since 1994 - "since Alexander Lukashenko came to power", are "neither free, nor fair."
“For almost 20 years now, the European Union and the United States have maintained the sanctions regime against Belarus in connection with widespread human rights violations,” Svenneling said.
So, speaking about the elections, the deputy recalled the voting held in August last year, during which Lukashenka was re-elected president of the country, and "falsification of the elections led to massive protests that were brutally suppressed by the regime."
In addition, the parliamentarian did not ignore the situation with the emergency landing of an aircraft flying from Greece to Lithuania, on board of which was the founder of the extremist Telegram channel NEXTA in Belarus, Roman Protasevich.
Swenneling asked Linda what actions the minister is taking to ensure that Sweden "supports the democratic opposition of Belarus."
On May 23, a Ryanair plane landed in Minsk on a flight from Athens to Vilnius.
According to the Belarusian authorities, this was due to the report of a bomb on board.
Subsequently, it became known that the message about the mining was false.
Roman Protasevich was on the plane.
After the plane landed, the journalist was detained and later arrested.
As reported, the republic's authorities accuse Protasevich of organizing protests and riots.
On August 9, 2020, presidential elections were held in Belarus.
According to the country's CEC, Lukashenka won them, gaining 80.1% of the vote.
Later, many states, in particular the United States and some EU members, announced that they did not recognize the results of the elections held in the republic.