Lithuanian MEP Petras Austrevicius says he could not travel to Belarus and his Polish counterpart Robert Biedron was deported from Minsk.
"Me and my colleague Biedron, who is the head of the Belarusian delegations and I am a rapporteur on Belarus on the Foreign Affairs Committee [at the European Parliament], wanted to visit Belarus and see it for ourselves and speak with civil society, the diplomatic corps, opposition parties,” Auštrevičius told BNS.
“But it turned out that my colleague was detained at Minsk Airport and deported to Vilnius, and my tickets were cancelled. I went to the airport and was told I had no right to fly to Minsk," he said.
Read more: Lithuanian MPs to send delegation to Minsk
"The system is [...] defending itself from external influence and at the same time it is closing from within," the Lithuanian MEP said.
Auštrevičius says it's an "unprecedented" case, adding that Belarus is following Russia's footsteps, which is "a very bad path the Belarusian authorities are taking".
Auštrevičius hopes the European Parliament's leadership will react to this situation. "It will definitely not improve the relations. They are wrong and will not frighten us," he said.
Mass protests have continued in Belarus after the August 9 presidential election that the opposition says was rigged.
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