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KGB neither denies nor confirms reports of arrest of Catholic priest Uladzislaw Lazar

 

Belarus’ Committee for State Security (KGB) neither denies nor confirms reports of the arrest of Roman Catholic priest Uladzislaw Lazar.

“We do not give official comments,” Artur Strekh, head of the KGB press office, told BelaPAN on Monday.

According to media reports, the priest was arrested about a month ago and has since been held in the KGB detention center in Minsk.

Apostolic Nuncio Claudio Gugerotti is in talks with Belarusian authorities over the case, the private weekly Nasha Niva reported Saturday with reference to a source in Catholic Church circles.

Members of the Catholic clergy are reluctant to disclose any details, the paper said.

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

Alyaksandr Lukashenka revealed Friday that authorities had recently arrested an officer of a Belarusian intelligence agency who the Belarusian leader said had supplied information to “foreign states” through representatives of the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church in Belarus will most likely release an official statement over the matter, Yury Sanko, spokesperson for the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Belarus, told the private newspaper Salidarnasts. // BelaPAN