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.

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 in Belarus.

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.

"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.

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). 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. He 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. Hearings were again 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. Krylov had been imprisoned 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. 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.

(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".)

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. "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 - which documents violations of 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. "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."

(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. Also identified were 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

For background information, see Forum 18's Belarus religious freedom survey

Forum 18's compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments

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