A/HRC/26/44 authorities about any change in their place of residence. Misdemeanours and violations of three of these restrictions within a one-year period may result in a criminal sentence.39 61. The President has the power to issue a pardon through a Presidential Decree. He has the prerogative to pardon a person40 regardless of whether the latter has requested one. However, the President has repeatedly claimed that he cannot grant a pardon in the absence of a petition.41 In 2008, however, Alexander Kozulin (2006 presidential candidate) was pardoned without a petition. A further example is from August and September 2011, when more than 30 people were pardoned, 12 of whom had not submitted a petition.42 The arbitrariness of the procedure exists within a broader system lacking the rule of law. 62. The Special Rapporteur once again calls upon the authorities to release immediately and unconditionally all those imprisoned for the exercise of their political and other rights (A/HRC/23/52, para. 119(a)). He calls on the authorities to ensure that the rights of those political prisoners who have been released are immediately and fully rehabilitated. 63. The Special Rapporteur remains alarmed that any person can be arrested and detained at any time in reprisal for disagreement with or criticism of the authorities or for engaging in the promotion of human rights. Such use of criminal law by desiderata is arbitrary and violates the basic principles of the rule of law. G. Enforced disappearances 64. There remains no progress in solving the outstanding cases of enforced disappearances dating back to 1999 and 2000, when Viktar Hanchar, a former member of Parliament and his associate, Anatol Krasouski, as well as Yury Zakharenko, former Minister of the Interior, and Dimitry Zavadsky, an investigative journalist, were abducted. All were noted political opponents of President Lukashenka. Numerous testimonies and accounts collected by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and the Human Rights Committee stated that the disappearances, some of which were committed on busy streets, were assisted by actual and former members of the law enforcement agencies. Nevertheless, the authorities merely notify the relatives of the victims every three months that there is “no result” in any of the cases. 65. Relatives and lawyers again expressed their concern to the Special Rapporteur that, owing to the statute of limitations in the Criminal Code, the cases would be officially closed in 2014 and 2015 – that is, 15 years after the four persons disappeared.43 66. The Special Rapporteur calls upon the authorities to urgently investigate the fate of the disappeared persons. 39 40 41 42 43 12 Human Rights Watch, World Report 2013: Events of 2012 (New York, Seven Stories Press, 2013), p. 406. http://www.pravo.by/main.aspx?guid=3871&p0=h11200387&p2={NRPA}. http://naviny.by/rubrics/politic/2012/11/27/ic_news_112_406171. http://spring96.org/files/reviews/en/2012_review_en_pdf. A/HRC/23/52, para. 46–49, and E/CN.4/2001/68, paras. 107–108.