Belarus KGB refuses to release Catholic Priest

You may not have heard of the case of Rev. Fr. Vladislav Lazar - a Catholic priest arrested by Belarus Secret police; due to his support for the Belarus Christian Democracy Party. The tiny nation of Belarus, continues to suffer Russification policies under the Stalinist admirer, Lukashenko. This same Lukashenko refuses to recognize attempts by this Party to be legally registered.

Minsk, August 14, Interfax - The organizing committee on the establishment of the Belarusian Christian Democracy party has sent an appeal to the Belarusian KGB and Prosecutor General's Office requesting to release Roman Catholic priest Vladislav Lazar.

"Over 1,000 people have signed the text of the petition demanding to release Roman Catholic priest Lazar via an Internet platform for voting," the press office of the Belarusian Christian Democracy party told Interfax.

"We think that the priest's arrest is an attempt to blackmail the Catholic Church in Belarus and to intimidate the Belarusian society. Due to this, we demand immediate release of Roman Catholic priest Lazar," the appeal said.

The Belarusian Roman-Catholic Church confirmed in late July 2013 that Roman Catholic priest Vladislav Lazar from Borisov had been detained but did not disclose the reasons behind the detention.

"We are aware of this fact but we have no reliable information why he was detained. We are waiting for an official announcement to arrive," acting spokesman for the Catholic Bishops in Belarus priest Yury Sanko has said.

Sanko said he declined to speculate whether the detention was related to the spy scandal previously referred to by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko due to the fact that the official information available was not sufficient.

The Belarusian KGB declined to comment on the detention of the priest. "We do not comment on this information," it said.