Henrykh Akalatovich was serving an 11-year sentence for spying – Viasna
Belarus has released two Roman Catholic priests held on treason charges, weeks after Alexander Lukashenko met a Vatican official.
Minsk has cracked down on political dissidents since protests against the president in 2020, forcing thousands into exile and putting more than 1,200 in prison.
The Catholic clergy has been particularly targeted because priests have supported protesters and are associated with neighbouring Poland. Warsaw’s relations with Belarus have long been strained, in part because of Mr Lukashenko’s support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Henrykh Akalatovich, 65, the first of the freed men, had been serving an 11-year sentence after being accused of spying for Poland and the Vatican – charges the priest said were based on “lies, threats and blackmail”.
Meanwhile, Andrzej Yukhnevich had been sentenced to 13 years in prison for abusing minors – crimes he has denied. He had previously been detained four times, including for posting a Ukrainian flag on a social media account.
Andrzej Yukhnevich had been sentenced to 13 years in prison for abusing minors, charges he denied
Mr Lukashenko pardoned the pair in light of “intensified contacts with the Vatican”, according to Belta, the Belarusian state news agency. They were released on Thursday.
In October, the Pope sent Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti to Belarus, where he met the Belarusian leader.
The Catholic Church in Belarus said that the release of Fr Akalatovich and Fr Yukhnevich was a “sign of mercy and respect for the Pope” following the cardinal’s visit.
Critics of Mr Lukashenko’s crackdown on political dissent say that the release of several hundred prisoners from Belarusian prisons since last year has been driven by the president’s desire to mend relations with Western governments.
In 2020, the EU imposed sanctions against Belarus in response to a fraudulent election, human rights abuses and violence against protesters.
Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti met Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk last month on a mission of mercy
Belarus is predominantly Orthodox but Catholics make up some 15 per cent of the country.
In Belarus, there is a widespread association between Catholicism and a pro-Poland political stance. Western Belarus was under Polish rule between the first and second world wars and is still home to a sizeable Catholic Polish minority today.
According to Viasna, a human rights group, there are still 1,255 political prisoners, including 29 priests, behind bars in Belarus. In September, Belarus arrested a Polish Catholic monk for spying.
This month, Donald Trump named a special envoy to the Eastern European country and tasked him with negotiating further releases.
The release of the priests comes after Poland reopened two crossing points with Belarus this week. One had been closed in 2023 after Minsk sentenced Andrzej Poczobut, a a Polish-Belarusian journalist, to eight years in prison.
Poczobut, who won the EU’s Sakharov human rights prize last month, remains behind bars.