In Belarus, the Commissioner for Religious and Ethnic Affairs will now be appointed personally by Alyaksandr Lukashenka and will report to his administration rather than to the government. Experts believe the move reflects the authorities’ desire to strengthen control over churches.
Belsat reports this.
In particular, Pavel Seviarynets, founder of the Belarusian Christian Democracy party, said the changes indicate Lukashenka’s intention to exercise the closest possible control over Christian churches in anticipation of potential unrest in Belarus.
“Christian churches are the largest communities in Belarus that remain only partially under the regime’s control. For millions of Belarusian believers, the highest authority is neither Alyaksandr Lukashenka nor even the hierarchy of a particular denomination, but Jesus Christ. In addition, the centers of influence for Catholicism, Protestantism, and Orthodoxy are located outside Belarus. That is why Lukashenka is trying to place everything under his own administration,” Pavel Seviarynets said.
Natallia Vasilevich, moderator of the Christian Vision initiative, commented that the change in the Commissioner’s status is less substantive than formal. In her view, its purpose is to optimize the system of governance in accordance with the internal bureaucratic logic of the state apparatus.
Vasilevich concluded that the changes are unlikely to affect Belarusian religious organizations directly. Most likely, they will continue to face the same strict level of state oversight, while the Commissioner will continue not to protect their rights but to ensure that they do not exceed the limits set by the authorities.
The new status also provides additional mechanisms for monitoring and controlling the activities of religious communities. This is particularly significant in light of the recent requirement for their mandatory re-registration.
The new rules will enter into force on 2 August.
As LF previously reported, three Catholic priests who are Polish citizens and had served in Belarus for many years have been forced to leave the country. The authorities refused to extend their permission to continue their ministry. All three served in the Vitsyebsk Diocese.
LF also reported that two Polish Catholic priests who had served for many years in Brest Region were forced to leave Belarus.
LF further reported that Catholic priest Anatoliy Parakhnevich, parish priest in Alkovichy, Vileyka District, was detained. Earlier, state propaganda media had mentioned the priest in a negative context after he attended a reception marking Poland’s Constitution Day at the Embassy of Ukraine in Minsk, portraying his participation as something suspicious.
It later became known that Anatoliy Parakhnevich had suffered a heart attack. The 65-year-old cleric remains in a pretrial detention center in serious condition. According to information available to Belarusian believers, Parakhnevich has been charged with “treason against the state.” The specific grounds for the charge have not been disclosed. It is believed that he is being held in the KGB pretrial detention facility.
LF also reported that, by decision of the KGB, the property of Catholic priest Henrikh Akalatovich has been seized and sold in Belarus. The priest had been convicted of “treason against the state” and was released two years later following a petition by the Vatican.
Earlier, a Catholic priest and two Evangelical presbyters were also detained in Belarus.
