
Police in Belarus have arrested three Catholic priests for unknown reasons, Belarusian human rights activists reported on Friday.
Two Roman Catholic clergymen and a Greek Catholic priest were arrested on May 25 in three locations in the Vitebsk region in the north of the country. The authorities confiscated their mobile phones and computers.
The Roman Catholic priests are said to be from the town of Miory and a neighboring town where they run parishes. According to Christian Vision for Belarus, a Greek Catholic clergyman was arrested in Polotsk.
The Belarusian authorities are cracking down on any public criticism of Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime and his support for the Russian war against Ukraine. Even the display of the Ukrainian flag on Facebook profiles has already been met with punishments.
The courts have also repeatedly convicted clergy of various faiths. In July 2022, a Catholic clergyman was imprisoned for 15 days for violating regulations governing the organization of major events.
Catholics make up about 10 percent of the country’s population. Due to massive repression by the state, the country’s bishops are wary of criticizing human rights violations.