A/HRC/32/48 journalists working for domestic media to also work for foreign media or Belarusian media based abroad. 39. The television channel Belsat, which broadcasts in Belarusian language from Poland, submitted a number of documents to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on 21 March 2016, seeking accreditation for their journalists and cameramen to work from Belarus. At the time of finalization of the present report, no answer had been received from the Ministry. Belsat has been seeking accreditation for several years (see A/HRC/29/43, para. 84). 40. The Special Rapporteur underlines the fact that, while it harasses independent media, the Government takes measures to promote newspapers owned by the State. For example, the management of one company and employees of Salihorsk enterprises were ordered to subscribe to a number of “State-controlled publications”.6 41. The Special Rapporteur highlights the situation of freedom of expression of artists in Belarus. He notes that the Belarus Free Theatre is still outlawed. The company, whose plays address contemporary social issues in Belarus, continues to stage performances, but in secrecy, announcing where they will be held(generally private apartments) only on the same day. The members of the company and their supporters have been allegedly harassed by the authorities. 42. The fact that the winner of the 2015 Nobel prize for literature, Svetlana Alexievich, was unable to publish all of her work in Belarus illustrates how thoroughly freedom of opinion, information and art is curtailed, by a barrage of punitive laws, administrative regulations and governmental control. 43. On 29 January 2016, youth activists Viachaslau Kasinerau, Maksim Piakarski and Vadzim Zharomski, who in August 2015 had drawn creative graffiti on buildings, were sentenced to large fines by the Frunzienski District Court. Once the individuals whose property had been defaced by the graffiti had received full compensation, they filed a request to have the case dismissed. The case could have been dropped, but prosecution rather continued, on the charge of “hooliganism” (Criminal Code, art. 339). During the hearings, the prosecutor allegedly referred to materials, some of which suggest that the investigators had tapped the defendants’ mobile telephones in May 2015, even before the graffiti were drawn. B. Freedom of association 44. Since the establishment of the mandate, the Special Rapporteur has recommended several ways to ease the systematic restrictions of the right to freedom of association, consisting of laws, institutional practice and recurring arbitrary violations. 45. At its universal periodic review in 2010, Belarus accepted various recommendations relating to improving respect for freedom of association and legal conditions for the activities of civil society. Nonetheless, since 2010, new legal acts and laws have been adopted that restrict freedom of association and virtually disable civil activism. 46. The Special Rapporteur regrets the fact that no new registrations have been accepted since the amendments to the law on public associations and on political parties were adopted on 20 February 2014, owing mainly to the numerous remaining administrative hurdles and a lack of political will. 6 Viasna Human Rights Center, Human Rights Situation in Belarus: December 2015, 4 January 2016. 9