Polish border guards at Warsaw's Chopin Airport stopped and detained Ales Michalevic, a candidate in Belarus's 2010 presidential elections, on Monday at the request of Interpol.

The international policing organization had earlier issued a warrant for Mr Michalevic's detention that had been requested by Belarus.

Rzeczpospolita reported that when asked on what basis Mr Michalevic has been stopped by the border guard, a spokesperson for that organization, Justyna Szmidt-Grzech, said Mr Michalevic has been stopped with “the aim of further clarification.”

She also said that he was planning to fly to London.

When WBJ.pl contacted the Belarusian Embassy in Warsaw to ask what would happen to Mr Michalevic, a spokesperson for the embassy said they had been unaware of what was happening, adding that the Belarussian consulate would be informed about it.

Ales Michalevic, a lawyer by profession, was among the over 600 people who were arrested in Minsk on December 20, 2010, when the government there cracked down on opposition supporters who took to the streets to protest against the reelection of President Alexander Lukashenko to a fourth term.

He was imprisoned and allegedly tortured, before being released in February 2011, under condition that he would not leave Belarus.

Izabela Depczyk