KGB releases Catholic priest Lazar

However, the priest is not relieved of the criminal liability.

The Roman Catholic Church in Belarus has announced in a statement that priest Uladzislau Lazar has been released from the KGB detention center in Minsk, BelaPAN said.

“The Apostolic Nunciature in Belarus was informed by the country’s appropriate agencies that there were no longer grounds for holding priest Uladzislau Lazar in the KGB detention center,” the statement says. “It was decided that during the investigation, which is still in progress, the priest should stay in a permanent place, having freedom of movement and action in accordance with certain norms, and the obligation to daily register at a police station. The apostolic nuncio was asked to take priest Lazar from the KGB detention center.”

Let us recall that Uladzislau Lazar, pastor of Holy Spirit Descension Parish in Barysau, Minsk region, was placed in the KGB jail in early June 2013. In a statement issued on September 12, the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Belarus announced that the Rev. Lazar was facing a charge of handing over “money and material valuables” to a person accused of spying for a foreign state. The priest “was really arrested by the KGB and is being held in the KGB’s detention center in Minsk,” the statement said.

The Rev. Lazar, a citizen of Belarus, graduated from the Higher Theological Seminary in Hrodna and then completed a theological course in Poland. He served in Maryina Horka and Rudzensk, Minsk region, before being appointed pastor of Holy Spirit Descension Parish in Barysau in April 2013. 

Earlier EuroBelarus Information Service has already informed its readers about an open letter, written by the Human Rights Centre “Viasna” and addressing Belarusan State Security Committee (KGB) urging to provide Belarusans with information about the grounds for Uladzislau Lazar’s arrest. Before that Belarusan Christian Democracy has similar appeal.