Catholic Church confirms arrest of priest Uladzislau Lazar

The Embassy of Vatican monitors the situation of the arrested priest.

Yury Sanko, an acting spokesman of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Belarus, confirmed the information about the arrest of Uladzslau Lazar in an interview to Radio Svaboda.

“We only know this fact, but we don't have reliable information about the grounds for the arrest. We are waiting for official statements on the issue,” he said.

Yuru Sanko noted that the situation was being monitored by state bodies, in particular, by the Nunciature of the Holy See (Embassy of Vatican).

Yury Sanko referred to lack of official information and declined to say whether the arrest of priest Uladzslau Lazar was linked to Lukashenka's Friday statement on the “spy” scandal.

The KGB neither confirms nor denies the information about the arrest of Uladzislau Lazar.

The priest was arrested and placed in the KGB remand jail. Uladzislau Lazar is the parish priest of the Descent of the Holy Spirit parish in Barysau.

Lukashenka said last Friday about the arrest of a security service officer who worked for foreign states through representatives of the Catholic Church. According to him, the security officer “didn't only provide information; his activity hurt people who work abroad”.