community service. In March, after the protests against the tax, the President mandated the government to suspend the tax collection until 2018; in August, he promised to waive the tax for “people with many children, the sick and invalids”. Respective changes were introduced in October. REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS Belarus lacked a functioning asylum system and repeatedly handed over individuals seeking international protection to authorities of countries where they were at real risk of torture or other ill-treatment. FORCIBLE RETURN Ethnic Chechen Imran Salamov, who claimed to have been repeatedly tortured in Chechnya, was forcibly returned to Russia on 5 September. He was in the process of appealing against his rejected asylum application. On 11 September, the Chechen authorities confirmed that he was in police custody in Grozny, capital of Chechnya. Since that date, he had had no contact with his lawyer or family and his whereabouts remained undisclosed at the end of the year. Following his forcible return, the Belarusian authorities opened an investigation which concluded that there had been a violation of Belarusian law and that Imran Salamov had been prematurely expelled from Belarus. Disciplinary action was taken against a number of officials linked to his case and was ongoing at the end of the year. Russian-Ukrainian-Israeli blogger Aleksandr Lapshin was detained in Belarus in December 2016 on request from Azerbaijan, and extradited to Azerbaijan in February where he was detained arbitrarily and prosecuted in connection with his blog posts criticizing the Azerbaijani authorities. Aleksandr Lapshin was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and released under a presidential pardon on 11 September (see Azerbaijan entry). Amnesty International Report 2017/18 BELGIUM Kingdom of Belgium Head of state: King Philippe Head of government: Charles Michel Prison conditions remained poor; hundreds of offenders with mental health problems or mental disabilities continued to be detained in inadequate prison wards. Several laws on professional secrecy introduced requirements for social workers to share private information regarding potential suspects of terrorism-related offences. Parliament introduced a number of restrictions to asylum and migration laws. A new law on legal gender recognition improved the rights of transgender people. COUNTER-TERROR AND SECURITY In July, Parliament adopted a new law establishing a special status and compensation system for victims of terrorismrelated offences. However, the law failed to ensure swift and full compensation. Victims could access state compensation only after a burdensome and lengthy process. In May, Parliament passed a law requiring employees of welfare institutions to report to prosecutors, or provide upon their request, information on people who could be involved in the perpetration of terrorism-related offences. In June a new law passed that allowed the sharing of confidential information previously protected by professional secrecy obligations to prevent the commission of terrorism-related offences. In October, Parliament amended the Constitution to increase the maximum duration of pre-charge detention from 24 to 48 hours. The provision applies to suspects of any crime, although the initial proposed scope was restricted to suspects of terrorismrelated offences. Authorities failed to effectively monitor the human rights impact of measures against terrorism and radicalization. 91