Rev. Pavel Lemekh OMI is a priest of the Order of the Missionaries of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate based in the diocesan sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima in Šumilina (Viciebsk voblasc).
Rev. Pavel Lemekh OMI was detained on 8 May 2024 together with Rev. Andrzej Yukhnievich OMI. The detention of the priests took place right after a meeting of the Viciebs diocese priests and novitiates which took place in their church. In addition, one Catholic believer from the Viciebsk diocese was also detained.
For some time the reason of detention was not known, and according to the leadership of the Order, the priests are accused of “subversive activity to the detriment of the Belarusian state.”
Before the trial, the priests were placed in a detention center in Viciebsk. The trial took place on 10 May 2024 via Skype. The clergy were subjected to administrative arrest. Rev. Lemekh got 10 days of arrest.
The hearing took place under Art. 23.34 of the Administrative Code (Unauthorized picketing) to consider the priest’s photograph of protests in Minsk with white-red-white flags, as well as the blue and yellow flag of Ukraine shared on Facebook “without the appropriate permission of the Shumilinsky District Executive Committee”. For this, the priest was detained, according to the protocol, at 10.15 pm on 8 May.
Rev. Lemekh explained that he did not intend to express socio-political views by placing the photo on a white-red-white background, and he posted the flag of Ukraine to express his grief over the deaths of civilians.
Judge of the Pieršamajski district Count of Viciebsk, Alena Zhuk, classified the priest’s offence as a gross offence aimed at “destabilising the situation in society and the state”. She took into account that Rev. Lemekh had already been subjected to administrative penalties, and considered a ten-day arrest an adequate punishment.
After serving 10 days, the priest was detained again and spent another four days behind bars.
Fr Lemech had to leave Belarus.
