Source: www.forum18..org
Date: November 24, 2025
https://www.forum18.org/archiv
By Felix Corley, Forum 18
Belarus' authoritarian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko pardoned two jailed
Catholic priests, Fr Henryk Okolotovich and Fr Andrei Yukhnevich. The two
priests, who were handed long sentences at closed trials, were freed from
labour camp early on 20 November and taken to the nunciature in the capital
Minsk. They were taken to the airport the same day and are now in Rome. The
state news agency Belta claimed that both had committed "serious crimes
against the state". Both rejected all the accusations against them.
"Both priests pleaded not guilty to the crimes they were accused of,"
independent Catholic news outlet Katolik.life noted. "Believers also
considered the sentences unjust and prayed for the prisoners' speedy
release."
Fr Okolotovich was arrested in November 2023 and jailed in December 2024
for 11 years on treason charges. Fr Yukhnevich was arrested in May 2024 and
jailed in April 2025 for 13 years on accusations of sexual abuse of a minor
or minors, accusations his supporters say were fabricated (see below).
Church spokesperson Fr Yuri Yasevich – and, separately, Natallia
Vasilevich of Christian Vision - pointed to Belta's wording that the two
priests had committed "serious crimes against the state".
"The fabrication of the case is indirectly confirmed by the wording used to
release the priests," Vasilevich told Radio Free Europe's Belarusian
Service. "This seems to confirm that the nature of Fr Yukhnevich's
persecution was not because he allegedly committed some crimes against
minors, but that he was persecuted for his civic and political stance" (see
below).
The head of the Vatican's Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, Cardinal
Claudio Gugerotti, indicated in a Vatican Radio interview in Rome on 21
November that he had raised the issue of the two jailed priests when he met
Lukashenko in Minsk on 27 October (see below).
Cardinal Gugerotti indicated that he had also raised with Lukashenko the
issue of the iconic Catholic Church of Saints Simon and Helena (known
locally due to its brickwork as the Red Church) in central Minsk. The
regime closed the church after a suspicious minor fire in a side room in
September 2022. Minsk Heritage, the building agency that has control of the
Church, later began repair works
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
It remains unclear if the regime will allow the 65-year-old Fr Okolotovich
and 42-year-old Fr Yukhnevich to return to Belarus and to resume parish
ministry. Deputy Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs Sergei
Gerasimenya refused to answer any questions about Fr Okolotovich and Fr
Yukhnevich or anything else. "I won't give any comments," he told Forum 18
and put the phone down (see below).
Vitebsk Diocese still lists Fr Yukhnevich on its website as priest of Our
Lady of Fatima parish in Shumilino. In November 2024, a year after his
arrest, the Minsk-Mogilev Archdiocese removed Fr Okolotovich from its list
of parish priests on its website (see below).
Lukashenko has pardoned a number of prisoners in recent months, including
political prisoners. Almost all of them – including Belarusian citizens
– were deported from Belarus. As of 24 November, Viasna (Spring) human
rights group recognised 1,247 political prisoners
(https://prisoners.spring96.or
Prisoners' freedom of religion or belief often violated
Four of the political prisoners the regime suddenly freed on 21 June and
deported to Lithuania spoke after their release on restrictions on
prisoners' exercise of freedom of religion or belief
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
"As a rule, political prisoners are never allowed to go to services,"
Natallia Dulina told Forum 18. Ihar Karnei notes that only Orthodox prison
chapels exist and prison officials approve or reject applications to
attend. "God may be calling you to church, but prison officials decide," he
told Forum 18. Orthodox Christian Sergei Tikhanovsky was denied access to a
priest for more than 5 years.
Inmates the prison authorities have deemed "low status" are refused access
to the limited religious services held by the Orthodox and Catholic
Churches in prisons, a former political prisoner and Orthodox Christian
Vadim Yermashuk told Forum 18 in January
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Denials of access to meetings for worship, religious literature and clergy
visits violate the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment
of Prisoners (known as the Mandela Rules, A/C.3/70/L.3
(https://www.unodc.org/documen
Officials of four of the prisons refused to discuss the restrictions with
Forum 18.
Fr Okolotovich: Jailed on multiple charges
From 2005, Catholic priest Fr Henryk (Gennady) Okolotovich (born 8 April
1960) was the parish priest of St Joseph's Church in Volozhin in Minsk
Region, 75 kms northwest of the city of Minsk.
On 16 November 2023, officials arrested Fr Okolotovich and detained him in
the KGB secret police Investigation Prison in Minsk. During the
investigation, Fr Okolotovich faced pressure to implicate the country's
Catholic bishops (https://www.forum18.org/archi
refused to do so.
On 30 December 2024, Minsk Regional Court handed him an 11-year jail term
on treason charges at a closed trial. Among other things he was accused of
sending abroad information about military aircraft at a base near his
parish. He was also ordered to pay a massive financial penalty. Fr
Okolotovich vigorously rejected the accusations.
On 1 April 2025, a week before his 65th birthday, the Supreme Court in
Minsk rejected Fr Okolotovich's appeal
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
closed. He was then sent to a Labour Camp in Bobruisk to begin serving his
sentence.
Fr Okolotovich: KGB secret police try to recruit as a spy
In summer 2025, the KGB secret police came to Fr Henryk Okolotovich in
prison in Bobruisk, "most likely to force him to slander parishioners or
other clergy of the Catholic Church", released political prisoner Andrey
Krylov told the Christian Vision group in September
(https://belarus2020.churchby.
in Bobruisk with Fr Okolotovich, as well as another jailed Catholic priest
Fr Andrei Yukhnevich.
The prison authorities transferred Fr Okolotovich for several weeks to the
KGB pre-trial detention centre in Minsk. There, they gave him some papers
to read, and apparently made him sign them. "There was some paper missing,
and they said it couldn't be delivered by mail or special courier because
it was a highly sensitive, classified document, so they took him there
themselves," Krylov recalled.
The prison authorities then returned Fr Okolotovich to Correctional Colony
No. 2 in Bobruisk.
"Then they summoned him and said the KGB would come and talk to him,"
Krylov recounted about Fr Okolotovich. "They told him he owed a million
Euros, and you understand that you have as much to do with these planes and
this million Euros as I do with ballet. That's not true, you know that, but
you sign these documents. And then we'll release you, Okolotovich, and
you'll be free. We won't do anything else to you."
Fr Okolotovich told Krylov that the KGB was requesting that, after being
freed and sent back to serve in his parish in Volozhin, he invite the
Vatican nuncio to visit the parish. "And secretly, as if by accident, hand
over a flash drive to the Vatican ambassador. That is, to create
incriminating evidence against the ambassador. But Okolotovich refused."
Fr Okolotovich said he told the KGB that "what you demand of me, is a
crime, and I cannot betray God, any more than I can carry out this action".
KGB officers said they would visit him again in prison "many more times, so
that perhaps you will change your mind", Krylov recalled.
Fr Yukhnevich: Jailed at closed trial
At the time of his arrest, Catholic priest Fr Andrei Marianovich Yukhnevich
(born 1982), a member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, was
serving in Our Lady of Fatima parish in Shumilino in the northern Vitebsk
Region. He had previously served as the Superior of the Oblates in the
country and President of the Conference of Major Superiors of Religious
Institutes.
Police arrested Fr Yukhnevich on 8 May 2024. He was first given short-term
jail terms, including under Administrative Code Article 24.23 for an
"unapproved demonstration" for posting a Ukrainian flag on his Facebook
page.
However, officials did not free Fr Yukhnevich after 45 days. Instead they
transferred him to a pre-trial Investigation Prison. Prosecutors brought
charges against him of sexual abuse of minors.
At a closed hearing on 30 April 2025, Judge Inna Grabovskaya of Shumilino
District Court convicted Fr Yukhnevich on three counts and jailed him for
13 years
(https://katolik.life/rus/news
Fr Yukhnevich's bishop, Oleg Butkevich, came to the court for each hearing
but was not allowed in, Katolik.life said. He then went to pray in the
chapel opposite the court building.
On 29 July, Vitebsk Regional Court rejected Fr Yukhnevich's appeal. The
hearing "proceeded in the same way as in Shumilino: all arguments were
unreasonably rejected and all the decisions of the district court were
simply upheld", Katolik.life noted on 30 July
(https://katolik.life/rus/news
(In July 2024, the Information Ministry listed Katolik.life as "extremist".
In August 2024, a court in Minsk Region declared Katolik.life's Telegram
channel "extremist". One month later, the Inspectorate for Supervision of
Telecommunications blocked access in Belarus to the Telegram channel on the
basis of the Information Ministry's decision. In August 2025, by decision
of Grodno's Lenin District Court, the Information Ministry added all
Katolik.life and Gomel Catholic's social media pages to the list of
"extremist materials"
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
The prison authorities transferred Fr Yukhnevich in August to Correctional
Colony No. 2 in Bobruisk to serve his sentence.
"As believers learned from reliable sources, Vatican diplomat Archbishop
Ignazio Ceffaglia and Bishop Oleg Butkevich visited the prison colony in
Bobruisk, but were denied access to the imprisoned priests," Katolik.life
news website noted on 30 September
(https://katolik.life/rus/news
"Believers do not know the reason for this or whether there was a prior
agreement to allow the meeting."
Fr Yukhnevich: Charges fabricated?
The Church has continued to support Fr Andrei Yukhnevich. His bishop tried
to attend his trial hearings (see above). After his release Fr Yukhnevich
was shown in clerical dress in a photo taken at the Apostolic Nunciature in
Minsk.
Katolik.life said the Vitebsk Diocese had received no complaints related to
Fr Yukhnevich's conduct.
"As far as believers know, the charges were based on the testimony of one
or more 'victims'," Katolik.life noted after Fr Yukhnevich's trial. "It's
possible they were pressured. According to information reaching believers,
the priest's case concerns events that occurred approximately 10 years ago,
so the charges could only have been based on dubious testimony."
Church spokesperson Fr Yuri Yasevich told Forum 18 on 24 November that he
is not aware of any material in the Church's possession about any abuse Fr
Yukhnevich might have committed. "If there were such materials, the Church
also should take internal action," he told Forum 18. "In this case it would
be a matter for the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and the Vitebsk
Diocese."
In announcing the pardoning and release on 20 November, Belta claimed the
two priests had committed "serious crimes against the state".
By contrast, Lukashenko's spokesperson Natalya Eismont claimed to Belarus
TV's First Channel on 22 November that the two priests had been "convicted
of serious and especially serious crimes against the state, as well as
other crimes". She did not specify any "other crimes".
Church spokesperson Fr Yasevich pointed to Belta's wording that the two
priests had committed "serious crimes against the state".
Natallia Vasilevich of the group Christian Vision
(https://belarus2020.churchby.
freedom of religion or belief and other human rights – similarly pointed
to Belta's report describing the two priests' alleged "serious crimes
against the state".
"The fabrication of the case is indirectly confirmed by the wording used to
release the priests," Vasilevich told Radio Free Europe's Belarusian
Service on 20 November (https://www.svaboda.org/a/335
seems to confirm that the nature of Fr Yukhnevich's persecution was not
because he allegedly committed some crimes against minors, but that he was
persecuted for his civic and political stance."
(Between August 2023 and March 2024, several courts declared Christian
Vision's Telegram channel (twice), Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, VKontakte
and Odnoklassniki pages, and logo "extremist". In April 2025, the KGB
secret police ruled that Christian Vision, its website and social media
channels are "extremist" and are banned
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
three people linked to the group, including Vasilevich.)
Pardoned, freed
Almost simultaneously on the morning of 20 November, the state news agency
Belta and the Conference of Catholic Bishops announced the pardon and
release from prison of the two jailed Catholic priests, Fr Henryk
Okolotovich and Fr Andrei Yukhnevich.
"Fr Henryk and Fr Andrei were freed from the labour camp in Bobruisk on the
morning of 20 November, taken to the nunciature in Minsk where their photos
were taken, and then straight to the airport," Church spokesperson Fr Yuri
Yasevich told Forum 18 from Minsk on 24 November. He said they are now in
Rome.
"Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti's visit gave a positive impetus to further
contacts, an important result of which was the decision of the President of
the Republic of Belarus, as a sign of mercy and respect for the Pope, to
pardon and release Catholic priests serving sentences of imprisonment," the
Conference of Catholic Bishops of Belarus wrote.
The Conference of Catholic Bishops stressed that "Cardinal Claudio
Gugerotti, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches; Ignazio
Ceffalia, Apostolic Nuncio to the Republic of Belarus; and Archbishop Iosif
Stanevsky, Chairman of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Belarus, took
a direct and significant part in the process."
In its announcement, Belta said Aleksandr Lukashenko had pardoned the two
priests "taking into account the intensification of contacts with the
Vatican, as well as the principles of goodwill, mercy and the Jubilee Year
of Christianity declared by the Roman Catholic Church".
Lukashenko's spokesperson Natalya Eismont told Belarus TV's First Channel
on 22 November that the decision to pardon and release the two priests came
"at the request of Pope Leo XIV with the participation of Metropolitan
Iosif Stanevsky as a gesture of goodwill, guided by principles of mercy and
humanism, taking into account the health of the convicted persons, and in
order to develop relations between the Republic of Belarus and the Holy
See".
Will freed priests be allowed to return to ministry?
It remains unclear if the regime will allow Fr Okolotovich and Fr
Yukhnevich to return to Belarus and to resume parish ministry. Deputy
Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs Sergei Gerasimenya refused
to answer any of Forum 18's questions, including on Fr Okolotovich and Fr
Yukhnevich. "I won't give any comments," he told Forum 18 from Minsk on 24
November and put the phone down.
Vitebsk Diocese still lists Fr Yukhnevich on its website as priest of Our
Lady of Fatima parish in Shumilino. In November 2024, a year after his
arrest, the Minsk-Mogilev Archdiocese removed Fr Okolotovich from its list
of parish priests on its website.
"No one is banned from returning," Church spokesperson Fr Yuri Yasevich
insisted to Forum 18. "Once Fr Henryk and Fr Andrei have acclimatised and
dealt with health issues, the question will come of where they will serve."
He noted that the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate will decide where
Fr Yukhnevich will be assigned to serve. (END)
More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Belarus
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
For background information, see Forum 18's Belarus religious freedom survey
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Forum 18's compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
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