A/HRC/41/52 journalist were arrested near the statue of a policeman located in front of the Ministry of Interior and detained for a few hours for displaying a sign requesting freedom for political prisoners and filming the scene.26 In November 2018, an adolescent was arrested for having slapped the same statue and was then forced to apologize publicly in a video posted on the website of the Ministry of Interior.27 More recently, on 22 January 2019, two activists were arrested for organizing a gathering, at which a dozen individuals laid flowers and lit candles to pay tribute to a young Belarusian man killed in clashes on Maidan Square in Kyiv in 2014. 28 The Special Rapporteur expresses serious concern that the pattern previously documented of arrests and administrative detention against human rights defenders, journalists and ordinary citizens for taking part in protests, or to prevent them from joining or reporting on these protests continues to be a widespread practice. 33. On 31 January 2019, the media announced the suspension of investigations into the disappearances of Juryj Zacharanka, former Minister of the Interior who disappeared on 7 May 1999; Viktar Hančar, former Vice-President of the parliament and Anatol Krasoŭski, a businessman, who both disappeared on 16 September 1999. 29 Officially, the investigations ceased because of the failure to identify a person who could be charged for the crimes committed. Given the numerous credible reports implicating senior officials, the suspension of the investigations signifies not only a failure to investigate but also a clear obstruction of justice. Article 13 of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance states that an investigation should be conducted for as long as the fate of the victim of enforced disappearance remains unclarified. 34. The three cases have been under review by the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances for almost 20 years (E/CN.4/2001/68, paras. 107–108 and E/CN.4/2000/64, para. 27). So far, information provided by the Government of Belarus has been considered insufficient (A/HRC/39/46, p. 12). The cases therefore remain outstanding. B. Fundamental freedoms 35. Systemic restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly and association described in previous reports of the Special Rapporteur remain in place. Moreover, the reporting period was marked by additional evidence of the continuous curtailing of fundamental freedoms, especially for independent media. The restrictions have a negative effect on civil society as a whole and are particularly worrisome in view of the presidential and parliamentary elections, due to take place in or before 2020. Without respect for fundamental freedoms, any electoral process will lack legitimacy. 1. Freedom of opinion and expression 36. The notorious amendments to the law on mass media, adopted on 14 June 2018, entered into force on 1 December 2018. The amendments enshrine the possibility of identifying any individual commenting on any type of publication online and require that information about such individuals be made available to the Ministry of Information within five working days. Only duly registered media, journalists and bloggers will be allowed to operate online and the owners of registered online media may be held criminally liable for content posted by others on their website. Lack of registration exposes them to administrative fines. Amendments also include the possibility for the authorities to block websites without a court decision. 30 Those developments prompted a general outcry of the human rights community and the previous Special Rapporteur reported extensively on their detrimental effects on freedom of opinion and expression (see A/73/380). By targeting the 26 27 28 29 30 8 See https://news.tut.by/economics/621541.html (in Russian). See www.svoboda.org/a/29602625.html (in Russian). See https://naviny.by/new/20190122/1548181726-v-minske-posle-akcii-pamyati-mihailazhiznevskogo-zaderzhany-olga (in Russian). See https://naviny.by/new/20190131/1548960516-dela-ob-ischeznovenii-zaharenko-gonchara-ikrasovskogo-priostanovleny (in Russian). See https://baj.by/en/analytics/mass-media-belarus-no-2-55-january-june-2018.