OREANDA-NEWS. Updated on 18.06.2020, 17:21: According to «Euroradio» with reference to lawyer of Viktor Babaryko, a potential candidate has been arrested. Before that, he was called to the Financial Investigation Department. They're not letting a lawyer into the building yet.

As presidential election in Belarus nears, opposition candidate Viktor Babaryko «disappears». A former banker vying to unseat the longtime leader of Belarus briefly disappeared amid a presidential campaign marked by an intensifying crackdown on dissent, his office said Thursday.

Two other candidates seeking to challenge President Alexander Lukashenko in this August's elections have been jailed over the past month on charges of violating public order and taking part in unauthorized opposition events. Lukashenko himself has slammed opposition activists as «bands of criminals» who want to disrupt the upcoming ballot.

Former banker Viktor Babaryko and his son were en route to submit some of the 425 000 signatures required to get on the ballot when they stopped answering phone calls, Babaryko's campaign website said.

Babaryko's office told Interfax that law enforcement had also searched Babaryko's home.