BELARUS: 65-year-old Catholic priest Anatol Parakhnevich arrested – by KGB?
Felix Corley
Forum 18 (10.04.2026) – Masked security officers arrested 65-year-old Catholic priest Anatol Parakhnevich in Alkovichi, Minsk Region on 16 March. They have held him since, including over Easter, possibly in Minsk’s KGB Investigation Prison. “We know he was detained .. but we don’t know where he is being held or what any accusations against him might be,” says Catholic spokesperson Fr Yuri Yasevich. Told that Forum 18 was unable to find out why Fr Parakhnevich was arrested, religious affairs official Andrei Aryayev responded: “I don’t have any information either.” Minsk Region Police did not respond.
On 16 March, masked security officers arrested 65-year-old Catholic priest Fr Anatol Parakhnevich in his parish in Alkovichi in Vileika District of Minsk Region, where he has served for nearly 20 years. They searched his home and the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church until the evening. The KGB secret police sealed Fr Parakhnevich’s home and took the church keys. Officials returned the keys only a week later, meaning that Sunday Mass had to be cancelled on 22 March as the parish had no access to the church.
Fr Parakhnevich has been held since his 16 March arrest. This includes the period of Holy Week running up to Easter (which Catholics celebrated on 5 April). This is the holiest part of the year for Christians. Some have speculated that he is being held at the KGB secret police’s Investigation Prison in Minsk (see below).
Fr Yuri Yasevich, spokesperson for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, said the Church has no information about Fr Parakhnevich’s case. “We know he was detained and his home was sealed, but we don’t know where he is being held or what any accusations against him might be,” he told Forum 18 from Minsk (see below).
Officials refuse to say which state agency arrested Fr Parakhnevich, where he has been held since his arrest and what any accusations against him are. The Information Department of Minsk Region Police did not answer Forum 18’s written questions (see below).
The duty officer at Vileika District Police would not answer any questions about Fr Parakhnevich. “I can’t provide any information,” he told Forum 18. He then put the phone down (see below).
The listed number for the Minsk City and Region KGB went unanswered each time Forum 18 called on 9 and 10 April (see below).
Told that Forum 18 had been unable to find out why Fr Parakhnevich had been arrested, Andrei Aryayev, the Head of the Religious Department of the Office of the Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs in Minsk, told Forum 18: “I don’t have any information either.” He then put the phone down (see below).
Olga Topdemir is head of Minsk Region Administration’s Ideology and Youth Chief Directorate, one of whose duties is controlling religion. Forum 18 asked her why officials had arrested Fr Parakhnevich. “I don’t know what you want from me,” she said and then put the phone down (see below).
The arrest of Fr Anatol Parakhnevich came four months after the regime freed two other Catholic priests. Fr Henryk Okolotovich and Fr Andrei Yukhnevich, handed long sentences at closed trials, were pardoned and freed from labour camp in November 2025. They were immediately taken to Minsk airport and travelled to Rome. They both remain there, unable to return to resume their ministry in Belarus (see below).
Since Fr Okolotovich’s release and exile, the regime continues to seize his property to pay debts the court said he owed. The authorities have already sold his 19-year-old car, but a small land plot he inherited from his parents failed to attract any bidders, either in February or in April (see below).
Photo:Fr Anatol Parakhnevich, St Anthony of Padua Church, Vitebsk, December 2024 Katolik.life
