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Field tracker · Belarus · Eastern Europe

BELARUS: Regime official denies permission for 3 more Catholic priests to remain

highAttackConfidence 98%JUN 12, 2026

Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs Aleksandr Rumak denied permission to Vitebsk Catholic Diocese for three Polish Catholic priests to continue service. Fr Zenon Szcząchor has been serving in Belarus since 1990. Rumak unilaterally decides without giving reasons whether registered religious organisations can have foreign clergy. His deputy, Sergei Gerasimenya, refused to explain the enforced departures. Arrested in March, 65-year-old Catholic priest Fr Anatol Parakhnevich suffered a heart attack. A Minsk KGB official told Forum 18 it would respond on his condition, why he has been arrested and where he is.

Record details

Location
Belarus · Eastern Europe
Event type
Attack
Coordinates
53.901, 27.559
Accountable source
Forum 18

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