Dictator Alexander Lukashenko pardoned the two religious brothers, Henrikh Okolotovich and Andrzej Juchniewicz, and they were released on November 20, 2025. Okolotovich had been sentenced to eleven years and Juchniewicz to thirteen years in prison for high treason, with the trial held behind closed doors. Their imprisonment was part of the broader context of state repression against church representatives. The political reality there stands in stark contrast to the teachings espoused by the Catholic Church in particular. It is all the more gratifying, therefore, that in these cases, mediation efforts by the Vatican, accompanied by appeals from several human rights organisations, appear to have improved their fates.

The International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) currently shares the concerns of its partner organisation “Nash Dom” (“Our House”), which alerted it to the arrest of 28-year-old Carmelite monk Grzegorz Gawel on September 4, 2025. The Polish national was staying in Lepel, Belarus, near Vitebsk, at the time. Pro-government media subsequently reported that he was accused of espionage. The Polish Foreign Ministry rejected these accusations. He is being held in an undisclosed location without having been brought before a judge. Several Belarusian human rights organizations consider the arrest politically motivated, as the accusations appear to be baseless. Gawel faces the death penalty.