A/HRC/41/52 by the Ministry of the Interior condemning the British Embassy for having hoisted a rainbow flag above the Embassy on the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.53 4. Freedom of religion or belief 49. The Special Rapporteur has not noted any progress in regard to the right to freedom of religion or belief during the reporting period. The law on religion requires religious communities to register before they can meet for worship, and certain religious communities face recurrent difficulties when attempting to register. Several religious communities, notably Protestant communities and Jehovah’s Witnesses, complain that their applications have been rejected based on minor grounds such as an inadmissible legal address. As a consequence of repeated rejections, some have given up any hope of getting registered and decided not to meet for fear of repression, or to meet in homes or outdoors for lack of a designated place of worship. 54 50. All public exercise of freedom of religion or belief remains tightly controlled. Meeting without registration exposes worshipers to police raids and fines under article 23.34 of the Code of Administrative Offences for violating the law on mass events. Believers can be fined and their communities dissolved for distributing religious literature and singing outside buildings of worship. For example, on 27 October 2018 two Baptists were detained and fined for singing Christian songs and distributing religious literature at the entrance to a market.55 51. Foreign citizens must also request State permission to conduct religious work in Belarus, notably those who are replacing priests who are on leave. In 2018, at least two Orthodox priests from Russia and two Catholic priests from Poland were denied such permission.56 C. Rule of law 1. Independence of judges and lawyers 52. Information received indicates that little has been done to address the shortcomings previously identified attesting to the lack of independence of judges and lawyers. The President is still involved in the examination of candidates and the appointment and dismissal of judges based on criteria unknown to the public. The possibility to appoint a judge for an indefinite time exists but in practice, most judges are appointed for limited terms and in any case have to undergo recertification every five years. 53. The Special Rapporteur is also concerned by the fact that bar associations in Belarus are considered independent but are de facto controlled by the Ministry of Justice. 57 The Ministry of Justice appoints the president of bar associations, delivers lawyers their licences to officiate and has the power to revoke them. In the same pattern as judges, lawyers undergo planned recertification every five years, but they can also be unexpectedly subjected to additional recertification requests. In that context, the lawyers of human rights defenders and activists have been particularly vulnerable to arbitrary and humiliating questioning of their professionalism. The Special Rapporteur believes that this situation clearly undermines the independence and credibility of the judicial system. 53 54 55 56 57 12 See https://naviny.by/new/20180524/1527165697-lgbt-aktivistka-u-ofisov-mvd-i-kgb-sami-vypoddelka (in Russian). See www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2436. See www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2437. See www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2387. See International Federation for Human Rights, World Organisation Against Torture and others, “Belarus: Control over lawyers threatens human rights” (June 2018).