Watchdog

Amnesty International says the Belarusian authorities have "continued to violate a number of fundamental human rights" over the past five years, including the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, association, and expression, as well as the right to liberty and security of the person.

In a document submitted to the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva and posted on Amnesty's website on September 11, the London-based human rights watchdog said Belarus also continued to impose death sentences and execute prisoners in secret over the period from 2013-2018.

Despite "positive steps" suggesting some progress toward abolition of the death penalty, Belarus persistently ignored requests from the Human Rights Committee to stay executions while cases were being considered, the document said.

Amnesty International also said that individuals had been "arbitrarily" deprived of their liberty by law enforcement officials.

It said that hundreds of peaceful protesters and individuals had been subjected to "arrest, heavy fines, 'administrative detention,' and in some cases imprisonment following politically-motivated trials that did not conform to fair trial standards."

Amnesty International said most of the print and broadcast media in Belarus operate "under effective government control," and the country's authorities have taken steps to extend their control to online media outlets.

Meanwhile, the legal framework governing secret surveillance allows the authorities to undertake "wide-ranging surveillance with little or no justification," according to the watchdog.

The document said freedom of association had continued to be "unduly restricted."

While legislative changes to decriminalize participation in the activities of an unregistered organization were being considered, it said, this "crime" may be replaced with an administrative "offense."

Amnesty International submitted the document ahead of the UN Human Rights Committee's review of Belarus's report on measures taken to implement the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The review is to take place during the committee's 124th session on October 8-November 2.

A Moscow court has ordered Kirill Serebrennikov to remain under house arrest until October 19, ignoring an impassioned argument from the celebrated theater director, who said he was neither a criminal nor a flight risk.

A Moscow City Court judge issued the ruling at a September 11 custody hearing for Serebrennikov, who is accused of embezzling state funds allocated to his theater.

Serebrennikov's August 2017 arrest drew international attention and prompted accusations that Russian authorities were targeting cultural figures who are at odds with President Vladimir Putin's government.

"Your honor, a person who has committed no crime must not be held under house arrest -- that seems obvious," Serebrennikov, 49, told the court. "And yet I have been under house arrest for more than a year."

Arguing against an extension, he said it was "clear to everybody that I'm not going to flee anywhere," pointing out that he had returned when allowed to travel on a few occasions, such as after his mother's death.

Serebrennikov said that the investigators and other officials behind his prosecution knew that "the most important thing for me is work -- and to prevent me from working is punishment."

He said he had received "huge words of support" from well-wishers, as well as invitations to stage plays at "the best theaters in the country."

He said he was "endlessly grateful" for the messages of support but urged backers to send them to the chief investigator on his case instead, adding, "Let him read them all."

Initially treated as a witness in an investigation targeting Moscow's Gogol Center theater, Serebrennikov was charged in August 2017 with organizing the embezzlement of 68 million rubles ($1.1 million) in state funds allocated to the theater's Seventh Studio from 2011-14.

Several other people involved with the theater and Seventh Studio have also been accused or charged.

Serebrennikov has denounced the charges as "nonsense," saying among other things that he was an artistic director and had nothing to do with any financial documents. Supporters have said the case is part of a politically motivated crackdown on Russia's arts community ahead of the March 2018 election in which Putin won a fourth Kremlin term.

In the past, Serebrennikov has taken part in antigovernment protests and voiced concern about the increasing influence of the Russian Orthodox Church, which has close ties to the state.

The director was unable to attend the premiere of his much-praised film Leto (Summer) in Cannes, France in May and his highly anticipated Bolshoi Theater ballet about the life of Russian dance legend Rudolf Nureyev in December.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service and Meduza