Members of Ireland’s Belarusian community are expected to picket in front of Leinster House this afternoon in opposition of the country’s president Alexander Lukashenko.

Yuliya Aliakseyeva, a representative from the People’s Embassy of Belarus in Ireland, discussed how a full parliamentary motion on the situation in Belarus will take place in the Dáil today.

“We, Belarusian in Ireland, and the People’s Embassy of Belarus in Ireland once again would like to thank Irish Government for your solidarity with the people of Belarus in their fight for democracy against dictatorship,” she said.

“We have a hope that the discussion in parliament will be constructive, and a statement of actions will be created.”

She also hopes to meet with Minister of State for European Affairs Thomas Byrne. She thanked Senator Malcolm Byrne for his help in organising the meeting.

Tensions between the EU and Belarus have increased since a Ryanair flight was forced to land in Minsk and a Belarusian journalist, Roman Protasevich, was arrested and taken off the flight.

Since May 23, Mr Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega have been detained in Belarus. Mr Protasevich ran a blog which was in opposition to Belarus’ current leader, Mr Lukashenko, who has ruled the country since 1994.

Sviatlana Tsikhanoushkaya was the main opposition leader against Mr Lukashenko in the country’s last set of elections last year. She said that a lawyer who visited the couple said they were fine, but: “it is doubtful, because for sure he was tortured, for sure he was beaten.”

Mr Protasevich is charged with organising riots, a charge that carries a potential sentence of 15 years. A day after he was arrested, Mr Protasevich said he was confessing, but observers said the statement appeared to be forced.