(LifeSiteNews) — A Catholic priest sentenced to 11 years in a Belarusian jail, has again rejected allegations of “treason” against him and warned that his case is being used to put “the whole Catholic Church in Belarus” on trial.
Writing from behind prison walls, Father Henryk Okołotowicz has attested about the charges recently brought against him that “there is not a word of truth, not a single fact incriminating espionage, and the entire accusation is based on lies, threats and blackmail.”
As reported by LifeSiteNews earlier this year, the priest was served an 11-year jail sentence on December 30 under charges of “high treason” by the Minsk Regional Court in Belarus.
The official reason for Okołotowicz’s arrest – after he was originally detained in 2023 – was given only as “high treason.” His sentence was delivered by Judge Uladzimir Areszko, a man described locally as being “known for his sentences against resistance [individuals].”
Now, the priest has released more information on that which he stands accused.
Writing a few days ago, Okołotowicz said he had been accused of spying in favor of “Poland and the Vatican” – an allegation and charge he vehemently rejected. News reports cited his letter as adding that there had been no “incriminating testimony” brought against him throughout the trial, despite numerous witnesses.
The priest has a much-lauded history of ministering to Catholics and assisting in a revival of Catholic practice in Belarus – consequently he has also earned the ire of communist authorities. Ordained in 1984, that same year he became the first Belarusian priest to offer Mass at the grave of the Polish officers massacred at Katyn in 1940 by Stalin’s secret police.
Media outlets familiar with his history have recorded how Okołotowicz has long been a target of the authorities, being punished by the Soviets some 30 times even before the fall of the Soviet Union.
As during his trial, in his letter Okołotowicz expressed his loyalty to the Catholic Church and warned that the sentence served against him was meant as a warning to the Church in Belarus.
“The whole Catholic Church in Belarus” is being tried, he warned, adding that “priests are being persecuted to close our mouths so that the Catholic Church does not tell the truth.”
Meanwhile, Okołotowicz suffers from significant health complications. He reportedly had a heart attack shortly before his 2023 arrest and also subsequently underwent surgery for stomach cancer.
According to news outlets which reported his case, the priest is still being prevented by authorities from offering Mass or accessing the prayer room of the detention facility.
He is still destined to be sent to a high security prison camp.
At the time of his arrest, Okołotowicz’s case was described as being used as a demonstration of the state’s power and as a means to intimidate the Church.
“For the first time since the fall of the communist regime, a Catholic priest in Belarus was convicted on criminal charges that are levelled against political prisoners,” said spokesperson for local human rights group Viasna Human Right Center, Pavel Sapelka. “The harsh sentence is intended to intimidate and silence hundreds of other priests ahead of January’s presidential election,” Sapelka added at the time.
His sentence has been condemned by Pavel Latushka, a former Belarusian politician opposed to President Aleksandr Lukashenko and who has been sentenced to an 18-month jail term in abstentia.
Okołotowicz is by no means alone: human rights activists report that numerous clergy of various denominations have been arrested following the widely disputed 2020 presidential election in Belarus; indeed, the Viasna group counts him among more than 1,200 political prisoners in the country.
Amid the political and social upheaval, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) wrote in 2023 that Belarus’ “authoritarian crackdown resulted in devastating consequences for civil society and human rights, including religious freedom,” while it also recorded that the government “runs regular surveillance of religious believers through the KGB secret police.”
In August 2021, a government-run paper ridiculed the Catholic Church by running a series of cartoons with prelates portrayed with Nazi swastikas rather than pectoral crosses.
“Most human rights, including religious freedom, are endangered due to the authoritarian nature of the government in Belarus,” ACN concluded.
Another watchdog group Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF) wrote in December that Belarus “finds its human rights and religious freedoms systematically repressed” – a situation the group largely attributed to influence and control wielded by the Kremlin.
Their report noted that:
The Belarusian government enforces draconian laws to stifle religious communities and restrict their freedom to operate. Religious institutions, particularly those not aligned with the regime, face constant surveillance, harassment, and forced closure. By manipulating religion as a tool of political control, Lukashenko ensures loyalty to his authoritarian rule, effectively silencing any opposition rooted in faith.
Lukashenko, HRWF reported, “continues to use the same Soviet-style mechanisms of repression that have long oppressed Belarusian society.”
The Center for Eastern Studies wrote that the “lengthy prison term for Father Okolotowicz can be attributed to the regime’s anti-Polish stance.” But citing also his vocal and unabashed criticism of Lukashenko, the group wrote that Okolotowicz’s sentence further “serves to discipline Belarusian Catholic clergy and suppress the dwindling number of priests regarded by the regime as defiant.”