The Catholic priest is being tried in Belarus on a charge of "failure of state". The trial of Fr Henryk Okolotowicz began on Monday behind the closed doors of the regional court in the capital city of Belarus, Minsk, as reported by human rights defenders. A 64-year-old priest is facing 7 to 15 years in prison and a advanced fine. This is the first trial for a "state traitor" against a Catholic priest in Belarus since his independency in 1991.
The substance has already strained the already tense relations between the Catholic Church and the authoritarian government in Minsk. Fr Okotowicz is simply a citizen of Belarus. Since 2005, he has been the parish priest of St. Joseph's parish in Wołozna, 75 km northwest of Minsk.
You've been in prison for a year.
Belarusian authorities arrested the clergyman in November 2023 and have since held him in KGB custody. For now, it is unknown what state secret was revealed by a priest or what abroad state he supposedly worked for. Before the hearing, it was only unofficially said that the parish priest had been accused of causing damages to the Belarusian State of around a million euros.
Persecuted by the Belarusian regime, the Spring Human Rights Defence Centre ranks Okolotowicz among 1271 political prisoners in Belarus. He didn't plead guilty during the investigation. The Minsk Archdiocese reported a year ago that due to arrest, the priest is presently incapable to execute pastoral duties. The Church has not yet revealed any information about this. The court only made available on the net an article of the Criminal Code cited in the indictment
Lack of care despite cancer
Human rights defenders complain of a deficiency of medical care for Fr Okotowicz in the Minsk KGB investigative prison. Shortly before his arrest, he suffered a heart attack. He had surgery due to a tummy tumor.
Fr Henryk Okolotowicz was born in fresh Mice close Baranovichi in 1960. From the age of nine, he served as an altar boy in the church in Baranovich. In the days of russian atheism, he read the call to priestly service. As a young man, he took up his studies in an underground seminary in Bears close Lachowicz. He did basic military service in the russian Army, obtained his education as a railroadman, but inactive unsuccessfully sought from the authorities the right to take authoritative education in a clergy seminary. In 1984 he was secretly ordained a priest by the Kaunas Metropolitan, Archbishop Vincentas Sladkevičius MIC (1920-2000), since 1988 cardinal.
Fr Henry served as a priest in Brasław, Rakow, Nieże, Bobrujsk. He was the first Belarusian priest to visit Katyń and to execute Mass there for the fallen Polish officers. This was the case in 1984, just after Fr Henry received the priesthood. The clergyman was then detained by russian officers and fined.
Overall, in russian times, Henryk Okolotowicz was punished by the authorities about 30 times. His younger brother, Leonard Okotowicz, is besides a priest.
The authorities of the country have consistently taken decisive and massive action against the Catholic Church, which includes about 10% of Belarusians. Another clergyman, Fr Andrzej Juchniewicz, president of the National Conference of Catholic Orders has been in prison for six months. Human rights defenders found him a political prisoner.
For 2 years Catholics have been prohibited from utilizing the Church of Saint Simon and Saint Helena in the Square of independency in Minsk. authoritative reason: alleged safety deficiencies. 1 of the 2 clergy seminars in Belarus, in the diocese of Pinsk, had to be closed. The exact reasons are unknown.
Source: KAI
