A/HRC/35/40 91. Arbitrary detentions affect other targeted groups. The situation of Roma women is particularly alarming. Officials of the Ministry of the Interior arbitrarily detain Roma women, some of them repeatedly, on the token basis of preventing offences or of so-called special decrees of the President. 23 These arbitrary arrests, which reveal ethnic profiling measures, violate the freedom of movement of Roma women by diffusing a feeling of fear of moving outside their communities. 92. The Special Rapporteur is concerned about the situation of Alexander Lapitski, who has been forced by the judiciary to undergo medical treatment in a psychiatric hospital. He was found guilty by a court in Minsk of having committed “socially dangerous acts” of insulting the President of Belarus and two judges. 24 93. The Special Rapporteur notes the return to the practice of putting political opponents of the Government in jail. Viachaslau Kasinerau, who had been sentenced to 15 days of administrative detention for having participated in a rally on 17 February 2017, was transferred to the detention centre of the Ministry of the Interior on 28 March, because of an alleged crime of hooliganism, namely throwing a noose over a statue. The Special Rapporteur shares the view of Belarusian NGOs that have declared him to be a political prisoner.25 94. Two other political opponents of the Government remain in prison in Belarus. On 10 July 2015, Mikhail Zhamchuzhny was sentenced to six and a half years of imprisonment under a strict regime. His sentence also bans him from holding positions related to the implementation of organizational and administrative duties for a period of two years and eight months. Uladzimir Kondrus was taken into custody on 14 June 2016 for the alleged crime of rioting in December 2010.26 95. As of the finalization of the present report, no information was available on the case of the “fighters”, who were reported by the official media as conspiring to overthrow the Government. It remains to be seen whether the allegations will be proven through a fair, transparent and non-politicized procedure. 96. The Special Rapporteur continues to be concerned at the absence of progress in solving outstanding cases of the enforced disappearance of political opponents of the President. These cases, which although they date back to 1999 and 2000 are still unsolved, concern the abduction of prominent Belarusian opposition politician Viktar Hanchar and his business associate Anatol Krasouski, of Yury Zakharanka, the former Minister of the Interior, and Dmitri Zavadski, a cameraman (see A/HRC/29/43, para. 66). 97. The inter-agency plan does not include any commitment regarding arbitrary detentions or disappearances. Several recommendations by human rights mechanisms to put an end to the practice of arbitrary detentions in Belarus continue to be ignored by the authorities. They have not acknowledged any of the recommendations of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review on the issue. G. Death penalty 98. Belarus executed four individuals in 2016: Sergey Ivanov, Sergey Khmelevski, Ivan Kulesh and Guennadi Yakovitsky. That represents the highest number of disclosed executions since 2008 and the resurgence of a practice, after the European Union had partially lifted its sanctions against Belarus in February 2016, that the State had not implemented in 2015, prior to the lifting of the sanctions. Two individuals were on death row as at 31 March 2017. Since the previous report of the Special Rapporteur to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/29/43), three additional sentences of capital punishment have been handed down, most recently on 17 March. 23 24 25 26 14 See submission by Belarusian NGOs, “Answers to the list of issues and questions”. See Viasna, “Human rights situation in Belarus in 2016”. See www.spring96.org/en/news/86654. See www.spring96.org/en/news/84325.