A/HRC/23/52 77. A worrying new trend has emerged with the Government‟s increased harassment of Internet-based expression. In September 2012, social media activists were detained and pressured for passwords of their social media accounts. Law enforcement by the authorities repeatedly led to the persecution of persons posting photographs of themselves holding a portrait of Ales Bialiatski, taken on empty streets in Hrodna and Novopolotsk, 50 on the charge of “conducting an unauthorized mass event”. On 13 February 2013, the Special Rapporteur communicated these cases to the authorities jointly with the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders (see also section I below). 78. Photographs posted on the Internet were also criminalized in the still ongoing investigation of the videoblogger Anton Suryapin over the globally reported case of parachuted teddy bears with captions on free speech. 51 The charge brought against Mr. Suryapin, who is currently banned from travelling, of “helping illegal border-crossing” could lead to a seven-year prison sentence. 79. The above actions by the Government not only tightened control over the Internet, despite the explicit recommendation of the High Commissioner, but also arbitrarily applied already oppressive extra-journalistic regulations to the online media. 80. Andrei Poczobut, correspondent of the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, was charged with defamation of the President after articles that he authored were posted on several websites. Mr. Poczobut was forced to remain in Hrodna from June 2012 to March 2013, when the case was dropped.52 81. Cultural rights were found to have been jeopardized in the harassment of ARCHE, a well-respected intellectual journal and forum, which resulted in the closure of the publication and the forced emigration of its editor, Valeriy Bulhakau. 53 On 14 September 2012, Mr. Bulhakau was detained at the launch of his book on the “Sovetization of Western Belarus” in Hrodna. He was accused of engagement in an illegal business for selling copies of his book. I. Freedom of peaceful assembly 82. Although article 26 of the Constitution guarantees the right to peaceful assembly, the legislative amendments to peaceful assembly adopted in 2011 broadened the definition of mass events and criminalized their organization, in violation of the law. Authorities regularly prohibit peaceful gatherings and use “hooliganism” or similar charges of misdemeanour to detain, intimidate and silence citizens. 83. One emerging concern is that individuals are sentenced to an administrative offence for participating in an unsanctioned event only after information has become available on the Internet, and after the event. An example of this was when three human rights defenders were charged under article 23.34 of the Administrative Code (organizing or conducting a 50 51 52 53 16 See www.omct.org/human-rights-defenders/urgent-interventions/belarus/2013/01/d22115/ and http://spring96.org/ru/news/60850. Alyssa Creamer, “Anton Suryapin, student photojournalist, could face 7 years in Belarus prison for his teddy bear pictures, Huffington Post, 14 August 2012, available from www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/14/anton-suryapin-student-ph_n_1775593.html. See www.svaboda.org/content/article/24784491.html. http://www.svaboda.org/content/article/24768828.html.