A/HRC/23/52 the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights on trial monitoring in Belarus.46 G. Arbitrary arrest and detention 70. Reports indicate that arbitrary detention is used as a means to intimidate, harass and punish individuals through arbitrary administrative and criminal detention, especially when they are engaged in undesired activities. The Special Rapporteur received reports from journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders and members of political organizations who claimed that they had been detained, beaten in the process and charged with speculative administrative and criminal offences. 71. The testimonies received highlighted the consequences of the lack of provision for judicial review of a decision to detain a person, which continues to be sanctioned by the prosecutor. While a detainee may appeal to the court against the detention, the court may only check the legality of the procedure, not the decision itself to detain a person. 72. The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found the detention of Ales Bialiatski, Head of the human rights centre Viasna, to be arbitrary, in contravention of article 20, paragraph 1 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Working Group emphasized that “the adequate remedy is to release Mr. Bialiatski and accord him an enforceable right to compensation pursuant to article 9, paragraph 5” of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.47 73. The authorities of Belarus should ensure that detention may be ordered only by a judge, and that pretrial detention is applied only in exceptional circumstances. H. Freedom of expression and opinion 74. In July 2012, a lawsuit to suspend the newspapers Nasha Niva and Narodnaya Volya was withdrawn. Since then, no attempts have been made to shut down independent media outlets. Freedom of expression and opinion continues, however, to be severely restricted through centralized media governance, arbitrary regulations, State ownership of all major media, and the threat of law enforcement against unwanted journalism. 75. The Ministry of Information continued to exert its overwhelming powers to authorize, warn and shut down media outlets. In the period 2010–2012, the Ministry issued more than 180 warnings to media outlets and 105 refusals to register mass media. 48 76. In 2012, 60 journalists were reported to have endured short-term detention, including journalists from Estonia and Sweden. 49 Office searches and equipment seizures were found to be routinely performed during detention of journalists, despite the fact that international standards regard such measures as restrictions on freedom of expression. 46 47 48 49 OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, Trial Monitoring in Belarus (March – July 2011), 10 November 2011. A/HRC/WGAD/2012/39, paras. 46 and 53. See www.belta.by/ru/all_news/society/Mininform-Belarusi-za-2010-2012-gody-napravil-105otkazov-v-registratsii-SMI_i_623567.html. Belarusian Association of Journalists, Mass media in Belarus – 2012: A Brief Review and Analysis, newsletter for 2012, available from www.baj.by/sites/default/files/monitoring_pdf/brief_2012_mass_media_in_belarus_en.pdf. 15