A/HRC/15/60 Belarus was the last European country to apply the death penalty and called for its prompt abolition. 658. Amnesty International urged Belarus to declare an immediate moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty. Belarus was the only country in Europe to continue to carry out executions; Vasily Yuzepchuk and Andrei Zhuk were executed in March 2010. Amnesty International was also concerned that prisoners and their relatives were not informed in advance of the date of execution. Belarus had committed to ensure fair trials and to respect the absolute prohibition of torture; Amnesty International welcomed Belarus’ commitment to introduce a definition of torture into national legislation. It called on the Government to ensure prompt, impartial and comprehensive investigations into all complaints of torture and other ill-treatment, and urged the authorities to take the measures necessary to ensure freedom of expression and association for all, including by simplifying registration procedures for non-governmental organizations and by abolishing article 193.1 of the criminal code. 659. The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission recalled that Belarus had received recommendations to promote equality, including on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity, and to include these grounds in anti-discrimination legislation and to develop public education and police sensitivity programmes. These recommendations were consistent with Belarus’ commitment to the principles of equality and non-discrimination; it thus urged Belarus to accept them. It also requested Belarus to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens were treated equally to all other citizens. It reiterated the various calls that were made at the Working Group session to guarantee freedom of expression, assembly and association for all citizens according to the obligations stemming from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 660. CIVICUS noted with regret that the position of Belarus during the interactive dialogue had been mostly formal and non-constructive. It regretted the fact that Belarus had rejected most of the recommendations concerning urgent issues, such as the abolition of or at least a moratorium on the death penalty, guaranteeing freedom of association, and simplifying the registration procedure of associations, political parties and nongovernmental organizations. The ban on the activities of unregistered non-governmental organizations should be abolished and criminal responsibility for such activities should be excluded from the criminal code. CIVICUS hoped that the review of the law on noncommercial organizations planned for 2011 would improve the situation of civil society and that Belarus would implement the recommendations of the Human Rights Committee and submit its overdue reports. 661. The Northern Alliance for Sustainability welcomed the fact that Belarus had accepted recommendation 97.8, which confirmed its intention to continue its actionoriented policy on environmental protection. It also appreciated the acceptance of the recommendation 98.31 made by Norway on violations against human rights defenders, journalists and students. It drew to the attention of the Council a number of important issues that the environmental movement faced in Belarus, such as the fact that activities aimed to protect the environment were not freely carried out because of article 193-1 of the criminal code, which criminalized any activity of non-registered organizations, and the fact that citizens and interest groups of many cities were not in a position to freely express their position on environmental issues. In this respect, it was therefore important that Belarus accept recommendation 98.23 made by Belgium. It expressed the hope that the Government would return to the discussion of this issue. 662. While welcoming Belarus’ announcement concerning the invitation of eight special procedures mandate holders, Conscience and Peace Tax International regretted the fact that the list did not include the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief. It urged Belarus to invite this mandate holder, who could investigate persistent reports of GE.11-17043 181