Freedom of Religion or Belief in Belarus

The monitoring finds that freedom of religion or belief remained severely restricted in Belarus. The state continues to control collective religious life through compulsory registration, liquidation proceedings, permissions for foreign clergy, regulation of public religious activity and broadly framed ideology and anti-extremism provisions.

The available evidence points to structural and selective control rather than a uniform prohibition of religious life. Some large public events and foreign religious visits were authorised, while smaller or less institutionally protected communities faced loss of legal status, fines, detention or reduced access to clergy.

Belarus reported 3,426 registered religious organisations in its fourth-cycle Universal Periodic Review report, compared with 3,592 at the beginning of 2024. IDSMBEE stresses that this decline cannot automatically be treated as evidence that 166 organisations were forcibly liquidated. The public record does not distinguish between rejected applications, non-applications, inactivity, voluntary dissolution and court-ordered liquidation.

Documented developments include the loss of legal status by three Greek Catholic parishes in Brest Region, the first-instance liquidation of the national Evangelical-Lutheran association and refusals affecting at least 12 Polish Catholic priests. The report also examines cases involving Baptist believer Natallia Bondaruk, Old Believer mentor Mikhail Rybakov, Catholic priest Anatol Parakhnevich, exiled FoRB defenders and restrictions on religious media.

The authorised Festival of Hope in Minsk, attended by almost 31,000 people, is recorded as a positive instance of religious manifestation. However, one permitted mass event does not demonstrate wider liberalisation. Systemic improvement would require transparent criteria, comparable opportunities for different communities and effective review of refusals.

The accompanying policy brief translates these findings into priorities for European action. It calls for:

• systematic monitoring of named FoRB cases by DROI, the EEAS and the EU Special Representative for Human Rights;
• publication of re-registration outcomes and reasons for administrative decisions;
• reform of Criminal Code Article 193-1 to protect peaceful activity by unregistered religious communities;
• reasoned decisions and effective appeal procedures in foreign-clergy cases;
• support for independent monitoring, legal assistance and secure documentation;
• stronger cross-border protection against wanted-list exposure, refoulement and transnational repression.

Both publications apply Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and relevant EU and OSCE standards. They distinguish verified facts from allegations and qualified legal assessments. Religious affiliation alone is not treated as evidence of persecution: each case is assessed according to the documented connection between state action and a protected right.

Freedom of Thought, Conscience, Religion or Belief in Belarus — Monitoring Release 1

Belarus: Religious Minorities under Administrative Control — Policy Brief for DROI

A related video is available on YouTube.
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