A/HRC/RES/52/29 2. Expresses deep concern at the further deterioration in the situation of human rights in Belarus in the aftermath of the presidential election held on 9 August 2020 and the continued impunity and lack of accountability for human rights violations committed in Belarus since 1 May 2020; 3. Condemns in this respect the continuing systematic denial of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including with regard to the holding of more than 1,462 political prisoners and the arbitrary detention and arrest of opposition members, journalists and other media workers, environmental and human rights defenders, including women human rights defenders, lawyers, medical workers, cultural workers, teachers, students, children, persons belonging to national minorities, members of trade unions and strike committees, and other members of civil society and individuals for expressing dissenting opinions and exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms, both online and offline, including those peacefully expressing protest or speaking out against both the war of aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and the support of the Belarusian authorities for the aggressor, and condemns the unjust, long prison sentences and the continued holding of persons in prolonged detention without any opportunity for them to challenge the lawfulness of their detention and the lack of information about the charges brought against them, as well as harsh sentences increasingly handed down to political prisoners without any respect for fair trial guarantees, including their right to a fair and public hearing; 4. Expresses continued grave concern at reports of systematic and widespread acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of, and sexual and gender-based violence against, individuals detained and arrested in Belarus, including children, by Belarusian State authorities, and the reported inhumane detention conditions and denial of access to medical and legal assistance in detention centres and prisons, which urgently require an independent investigation, and regrets that, despite being a State party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Belarus has, according to reports, not complied with its obligations under those treaties; 5. Expresses continued serious concern about other ongoing severe politically motivated acts of repression against independent media and civil society, including through the large-scale ordered closure or forced self-closure of more than 1,231 civil society organizations, politically motivated prosecution and harassment, arbitrary decisions to cancel professional licences, including of lawyers, notably those defending political prisoners in politically motivated criminal cases, the revocation of foreign media workers’ accreditations, the banning of independent media outlets, the blocking of independent media websites and Internet shutdowns, the reported numerous raids on private houses and offices, the crackdown against the relatives of those who have left the country, the serious violations of fair trial guarantees and other procedural rights of accused persons, including confidential access to lawyers and court documents, as well as the reports of State-sponsored disinformation in Belarus, and the increasing legislative restrictions of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, association and expression, both online and offline, in particular the recent amendments to the Law on Mass Gatherings, the Law on Mass Media, the Law on Countering Extremism and the Law on the Bar and Advocacy, and the amendments to the Criminal Code expanding the use of the death penalty with the intent of further repressing the exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and also expresses great concern about the recent decisions of Belarus to withdraw from the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (the Aarhus Convention) and from the first Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, thereby further limiting access to judicial oversight by independent human rights mechanisms; 6. Expresses once again its regret that the Belarusian authorities have not fulfilled their obligations with regard to the right of every citizen to vote and to be elected at free, fair and inclusive periodic elections, which should be by universal and equal suffrage and should be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the 2