Belarus: Catholic priest critical of Lukashenko dictatorship gets 11-year prison sentence

A Belarusian Catholic priest, a critic of his country's government, was sentenced to11 years in prison for "high treason," the Associated Press reported.

Reverend Henrykh Akalatovich (64) becomes the first member of the Catholic clergy to be convicted on criminal charges brought against political prisoners after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The development comes amid a wave of repression being carried out by the authoritarian Belarusian leader Alexandr Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the run-up to the presidential elections, which will take place on Jan. 26.

It is estimated that the election will be rigged so that Lukashenko, who has been at the head of the Belarusian government for 30 years, will obtain a seventh term.

It should be noted that Akalatocivch was diagnosed with cancer before being arrested at the end of 2023, and he has been in contact with the public since.

Lukashenko's persecution of Christian clerics is not new

Arkatovich is among dozens of clerics from different denominations of Christianity, including Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox, who were imprisoned, silenced or forced into exile for voicing their disagreement with Lukashenko following the 2020 election, considered fraudulent by the West and the local opposition, the Associated Press indicated.

Following the 2020 election, massive anti-government protests broke out in Belarus, which were harshly repressed by the Lukashenko regime, with some 65,000 people arrested.

The actions of many Protestant and Catholic clergy members, who supported the protests and helped the demonstrators by sheltering them in their churches, angered the authorities, and religious leaders were especially persecuted during the repression of the protests.

It is estimated that in Belarus there are 1,265 political prisoners, according to the Viasna Human Rights Center, an organization based in Minsk, capital of the European country, which repudiated the sentence against Arkatovich.

The Belarusian population is made up of 80% Orthodox Christians, 14% Catholics and 2% Protestants.