At a hearing on the morning of 9 April, the Supreme Court in Minsk rejected the appeal by the Greek Catholic Parish of the Brother Apostles Saints Peter and Andrew in the western city of Brest against its enforced liquidation. Brest Regional Court had earlier approved local officials' suits to liquidate this and the two other Greek Catholic parishes in Brest Region (in Baranovichi and Ivatsevichi). Any activity by the three parishes is now illegal and punishable.

The regime's ban on any activity by unregistered religious communities means that anything the Greek Catholic parishes in Brest Region now do is illegal and punishable (see below).

"We entrust the faithful of the non-re-registered parishes in Brest, Ivatsevichi and Baranovichi to the intercession of the Mother of God and the Belarusian martyrs and the prayers of people of good will," the unofficial Greek Catholic Telegram channel Carkva noted (see below).

The three parishes first gained state registration in the 1990s. Like all religious communities that wanted to continue to exist under the new Religion Law that came into force in July 2024, they were forced to seek re-registration. Officials of Brest Regional Executive Committee rejected their applications in 2025 and lodged the liquidation suits to court (see below).

Yuliya Lyaskova, press secretary at the Supreme Court, refused to answer any questions by phone. Forum 18 asked in writing:
- Whether the 9 April hearing had been open;
- When the court decision enters legal force; and
- Whether the decision is final or whether the parish can lodge a further appeal.
Forum 18 has received no response (see below).

Two different officials at Brest Regional Court – one in the chancellery, the other in the Civil Cases Division – refused to give Forum 18 any information on the three liquidation cases (see below).

Forum 18 asked Pavel Bobruk, Head of the Ideology, Religious and Ethnic Affairs Department at Brest Regional Executive Committee:
- why it had sent suits to the Regional Court to liquidate all three Greek Catholic parishes in the Region; and
- where Greek Catholics should now go to pray.
"I can't give you any commentary by phone – unfortunately," he told Forum 18. Asked why he could not answer the questions, he responded: "Because I'm a state official." He then put the phone down (see below).

In early 2026, following the enforced liquidation of the Greek Catholic Parish of the Zhirovitsy Mother of God in Ivatsevichi, Fr Adam Straczyński invited the Greek Catholic priest and parishioners to join worship at the town's Roman Catholic church. Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs Aleksandr Rumak refused the Bishop's application to renew permission for Fr Straczyński – a Polish citizen – to continue serving in Belarus. He had to leave in early March (see below).

"Believers concluded that the likely reason for revoking the Polish priest's licence to serve was that he had invited a Greek Catholic priest from a liquidated parish to serve in the church," the independent Catholic news outlet Katolik.life noted (see below).

Meanwhile, Catholics were not allowed to pray on 10 April at the tomb of Edvard Vainilovich, a lay Catholic who financed the building of the Catholic Church of Saints Simon and Helena (known locally due to its brickwork as the Red Church) in central Minsk at the beginning of the 20th century. The commemoration was to mark the tenth anniversary of the Church declaring Vainilovich a Servant of God, the first step on the path to beatification (see below).

The Church has been closed since a suspicious minor fire in a side room in September 2022. Former parish priest Fr Vladislav Zavalnyuk said that Minsk Heritage – which has control of the building - has not changed its position. "They won't open the fence to allow us to go to the tomb," he told Forum 18. He said he will ask for permission to hold a ceremony at Vainilovich's tomb on 11 June, the 30th anniversary of the transfer of his remains from Poland to the Red Church (see below).

Officials have continued to designate as "extremist" and ban websites and social media sites – including some with religious content (see below).

Regime's tight controls on freedom of religion or belief

Against Belarus' international human rights commitments, any exercise of freedom of religion or belief without state permission is illegal. Individuals and communities can be punished. Criminal Code Article 193-1 punishes "organisation of or participation in activity by an unregistered political party, foundation, civil or religious organisation" with a fine or imprisonment for up to two years.

The regime adopted a repressive new Religion Law which came into force on 5 July 2024. The new Law mandated a one-year timeframe for Belarus' more than 3,500 registered religious communities to submit documentation for compulsory re-registration by 5 July 2025. Any community that had not submitted a re-registration application by the deadline – or whose application was rejected - was to be liquidated through the courts.

Concern and secrecy surrounded the re-registration process. Many religious communities declined to discuss how it went and why some of their communities did not regain state registration.

The office in Minsk of the Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs – which handled national or monastic re-registration applications – and Regional Executive Committees – which handled local or regional re-registration applications – appear to have re-registered fewer communities than had registration before the adoption of the new Law. Officials have not released full nationwide statistics.

For the 5 out of Belarus' 7 regions for which statistics are known, reductions in the number of individual registered communities range from about 3 to 13 percent:
Gomel Region: 419 in January 2024, 380 in 2026;
Grodno Region: 491 in January 2024, 455 in 2026;
Minsk City: 159 in January 2024, 153 in 2026;
Mogilev Region: 299 in January 2024, 237 in 2026;
Vitebsk Region: 565 in January 2024, 492 in 2026;
Brest Region: 772 in January 2024, unknown in 2026;
Minsk Region: 714 in January 2024, unknown in 2026.

When the Plenipotentiary's Office in Minsk on 18 February 2026 registered (for the first time) the Capuchin monastic order as part of the Conference of Catholic Bishops, it gave it registration certificate No. 159. While 173 organisations had registration at the national level in January 2024, this means that at most 158 gained re-registration at the national level.

The Christian Vision group (which documents violations of freedom of religion or belief and other human rights, and whose social media sites and logo the regime has declared to be "extremist") points out that in some cases, the liquidation of communities occurred for "natural reasons".

"For example, some Roman Catholic parishes in Mogilev Region existed 'only on paper', but in reality, they were not functioning due to insufficient numbers of parishioners," Christian Vision noted on 5 February. "Some parishes experienced a decline in membership due to death and migration, while others were initially registered with a minimum number of parishioners - in the hope that their numbers would increase in the future, but this did not happen."

All 3 Greek Catholic parishes in Brest Region liquidated

During the compulsory re-registration of all religious communities, all three Greek Catholic parishes in the western Brest Region lodged re-registration applications with Brest Regional Executive Committee by the deadline of 5 July 2025.

The Parish of the Brother Apostles Saints Peter and Andrew in the city of Brest had first been registered in 1993, according to the Unified State Registry of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs. The parish bought a house in 1997 and converted it into a church. In June 2016, the Greek Catholic Apostolic Visitor Sergei Gajek led the consecration of the new facade for the church.

The Parish of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Baranovichi and the Parish of the Zhirovitsy Mother of God in Ivatsevichi had both first been registered in 1998.

However, Executive Committee officials deemed the three parishes' 2025 re-registration applications did not meet the new requirements. They sent liquidation suits to Brest Regional Court.

On 23 December 2025, officials ruled to liquidate the Parish of the Zhirovitsy Mother of God in Ivatsevichi, according to the Unified State Registry of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs. The Register noted that Brest Regional Court approved the liquidation suit. The Register – as of 10 April – describes the parish as "in the process of liquidation".

On 17 February 2026, officials ruled to liquidate the Parish of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Baranovichi, according to the Unified State Registry of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs. The Register noted that Brest Regional Court approved the liquidation suit. The Register – as of 10 April – describes the parish as "in the process of liquidation".

Officials also ruled to liquidate the Parish of the Brother Apostles Saints Peter and Andrew in the city of Brest. Brest Regional Court approved the liquidation suit. The parish appealed against the liquidation to the Supreme Court in Minsk (see below).

The Unified State Registry of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs – as of 10 April – describes the Brest parish as "functioning".

Two different officials at Brest Regional Court – one in the chancellery, the other in the Civil Cases Division – refused to give Forum 18 any information on the three liquidation cases by telephone on 13 April. Neither official would say which state entity initiated the liquidation suits and when the Court approved them.

Greek Catholic parish loses Supreme Court challenge

The Greek Catholic Parish of the Brother Apostles Saints Peter and Andrew in the city of Brest lodged its appeal against liquidation to the Supreme Court in Minsk. At a hearing on the morning of 9 April, the Court rejected the parish's appeal and upheld Brest Regional Court's decision, the unofficial Greek Catholic Telegram channel Carkva noted the same day.

The decision appears to be final and cannot be appealed further.

Yuliya Lyaskova, press secretary at the Supreme Court, refused to answer any questions by phone on 13 April. Forum 18 asked in writing the same day:
- Whether the appeal had been heard by the Court's Civil Division;
- Whether the 9 April hearing had been open;
- When the court decision enters legal force; and
- Whether the decision is final or whether the parish can lodge a further appeal.
Forum 18 had received no response by the end of the working day in Minsk of 14 April.

Polish priest expelled for welcoming Greek Catholics?

Polish Catholic parish priest Fr Adam Straczyński – who had served in Belarus for 11 years - and Fr Paweł Kruczek - for almost 20 years – were forced to leave in spring 2026. Their Bishop Antoni Dziemianko of Pinsk described their "forced departure" as "painful". Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs Aleksandr Rumak refused the Bishop's request for the two to continue to be allowed to conduct religious work in Belarus.

Andrei Aryayev of the Religious Department of the Plenipotentiary's Office in Minsk and Irina Zakharevich of the Ideology Directorate of Brest Regional Executive Committee both refused to discuss the refusals with Forum 18 in March.

Fr Straczyński had served as priest of three parishes in Brest Region, in Ivatsevichi, Kosava and Volka.

In early 2026, following the enforced liquidation of the Greek Catholic Parish of the Zhirovitsy Mother of God in Ivatsevichi, Fr Straczyński invited the Greek Catholic priest and parishioners to join worship at the town's Roman Catholic church. Photos of the two priests at the altar were posted on the Roman Catholic parish's Instagram page.

"Believers concluded that the likely reason for revoking the Polish priest's licence to serve was that he had invited a Greek Catholic priest from a liquidated parish to serve in the church," the independent Catholic news outlet Katolik.life noted on 13 April. "Although there was nothing illegal about this."

Since Fr Straczyński's enforced departure from Belarus in early March, no photos of the Greek Catholic priest appear in parish photos, Katolik.life added.

Ivatsevichi's Greek Catholic parish had previously met for worship in a chapel in a converted home. It remains unclear if the chapel is still available for worship under the auspices of the Roman Catholic parish.

Where can Brest Region's Greek Catholics meet for worship?

The regime's ban on any activity by unregistered religious communities means that anything the Greek Catholic parishes in Brest Region now do is illegal and punishable.

"We entrust the faithful of the non-re-registered parishes in Brest, Ivatsevichi and Baranovichi to the intercession of the Mother of God and the Belarusian martyrs and the prayers of people of good will," the unofficial Greek Catholic Telegram channel Carkva noted on 9 April.

Independent Catholic news outlet Katolik.life describes the "de facto ban" on Greek Catholic activity in Brest Region as "deeply symbolic in its historical context".

"After all, it was here that the Greek Catholic Church was born in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: in 1596, the Union of Brest was adopted, when the Orthodox Church recognised the supremacy of the Pope and Catholic dogmas, while retaining the Byzantine Rite and Church Slavonic as the language of worship," Katolik.life pointed out.

Forum 18 asked Pavel Bobruk, Head of the Ideology, Religious and Ethnic Affairs Department at Brest Regional Executive Committee:
- why it had sent suits to the Regional Court to liquidate all three Greek Catholic parishes in the Region; and
- where Greek Catholics should now go to pray.
"I can't give you any commentary by phone – unfortunately," he told Forum 18 from Brest on 10 April. Asked why he could not answer the questions, he responded: "Because I'm a state official." He then put the phone down.

Minsk: No prayers at church founder's tomb

Officials closed the iconic Catholic Church of Saints Simon and Helena (known locally due to its brickwork as the Red Church) in central Minsk after a suspicious minor fire in a side room in September 2022. Minsk Heritage, the building agency founded by the city authorities that has control of the Church, has been intermittently "restoring" the building since.

The former priest of the Red Church, Fr Vladislav Zavalnyuk, requested access from Minsk Heritage to hold a commemoration and prayers on 10 April 2026 at the tomb on the outside wall of the Church of Edvard Vainilovich. A lay Catholic, he financed the building of the Church at the beginning of the 20th century in memory of his deceased son and daughter. The commemoration was to mark the tenth anniversary of the Church declaring Vainilovich a Servant of God, the first step on the path to beatification.

Fr Zavalnyuk met the director of Minsk Heritage Aleksandr Yatsko on 4 March. "He gave a negative response," Fr Zavalnyuk told Forum 18 in March. "We're still praying for a positive response."

Natalya Volkova of Minsk Heritage is overseeing the technical side of the reconstruction. "Now it is a reconstruction facility and outsiders are not allowed to enter," she told Forum 18 in March.

Fr Zavalnyuk said that Minsk Heritage has not changed its position. "They won't open the fence to allow us to go to the tomb," he told Forum 18 on 8 April. He said Catholics would have to hold the commemoration "in the parish". He said he will ask for permission to hold a ceremony at Vainilovich's tomb on 11 June, the 30th anniversary of the transfer of his remains from Poland to the Red Church.

More "extremist" designations and bans

The regime has banned as "extremist" and blocked many news websites and social media channels related to religion. Human rights groups – such as Viasna (Spring) and Human Constanta – and independent media outlets are also among the many groups courts, the Interior Ministry or the KGB secret police have declared "extremist".

Anyone who shares, copies or likes material from a site deemed "extremist" risks punishment under Administrative Code Article 19.11 ("Distribution, production, storage and transportation of information products containing calls for extremist activities, or promoting such activities").

Anyone joining or providing information or an interview to such a site risks punishment under Criminal Code Article 361-1 ("Creation of or participation in an extremist organisation") or Criminal Code Article 361-4 ("Supporting extremist activity").

On 23 March, Novopolotsk City Court declared "extremist" the Facebook page of Belarusian Christian Democracy, an opposition political party whose leaders have repeatedly been jailed. The Justice Ministry has repeatedly refused to register the party. The regime had already declared other of the party's internet and social media sites "extremist".

On 2 April, Zheleznodorozhny District Court in Vitebsk declared "extremist" Orthodox Christian Dzmitry Korneyenko's page on the Russian social media site VKontakte. Korneyenko is among the Christians from various Churches who formed the group Christian Vision in September 2020, amid protests against the falsified presidential elections, to document violations of freedom of religion or belief and other human rights.

In 2023 and 2024, the regime blocked access in Belarus to Christian Vision's website and banned its social media sites as "extremist".

On 1 April 2025, the KGB secret police ruled that Christian Vision, its website and social media channels are "extremist" and are banned. Also identified were three people linked to the group: Natallia Vasilevich, Natallia Harkovich and Korneyenko. (All three, who are Orthodox Christians, are outside Belarus.) The decision came into force on being issued. The Interior Ministry added the group to its list of "extremist" organisations on 8 April 2025. (END)

More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Belarus

For background information, see Forum 18's Belarus religious freedom survey

Forum 18's compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments

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