Belarus suffering brutal crackdown as presidential election approaches BBC News

The former Soviet Republic of Belarus is often referred to as Europe s last dictatorship. The country, next to Russia and the Baltic states, has been ruled for more than 25 years by Alexander Lukashenko. But opposition to him is growing, fuelled in part by his dismissive response to the coronavirus pandemic. Presidential elections are due to take place in a few weeks time but opposition activists and journalists are being rounded up and jailed in what people say is a brutal crackdown. Huw Edwards presents BBC News at Ten reporting from Europe Correspondent Jean Mackenzie in Minsk.