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.

1715 GMT: The Central Election Commission has said that it is not possible for the Supreme Court to review the Commission's decision on the validity of the election: "The election results are not in the jurisdiction of the court but of the central committee, which has all the necessary documents."

1140 GMT: Presidential candidate Gregory Kostusev has filed an application with the Supreme Court, challenging the ruling of the Central Election Commission that the presidential vote was valid.

Kostusev said he had little hope that the application would be considered but "he had to do it".

0950 GMT: Detained Presidential candidate Nikolai Statkevich has reportedly been on hunger strike for 15 days.

0940 GMT: Presidential candidate Vitaly Rymashevsky, who was released from detention yesterday, cancelled a press conference later in the day because of fears he might be re-arrested.

Presidential candidates Andrei Sannikov, Vladimir Neklyaev, Nikolai Statkevich, and Ales Mikhalevich are still in prison after the Election Day protests of 19 December.

Reports indicate Germany may support the renewal of European sanctions against Belarus over the circumstances of the election, which gave a 80% vote to President Alexander Lukashenko, and the subsequent detentions. 

The US State Department has condemned the Belarus Government's closure of the offices of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which was monitoring the election.

State security have raided the home of journalist Ales Barazenka and taken the reporter in for questioning.