Ales Bialiatski seeks meeting with priest

The imprisoned Viasna leader Ales Bialiatski is still deprived of a possibility to have a meeting with a Roman Catholic priest, says Babruisk civil activist Siarhei Latsinski, quoting a letter received from the human rights defender.

“I wrote to the priest and to the administration, in hope that they could let him in. Orthodox believers have their own chapel here, where regular masses are held, while it looks like Catholic priests have never been here. Meanwhile, there are quite a lot of Catholic believers from Central and Western Belarus here,” says Ales Bialiatski.

Siarhei Latsinski says he has talked to the local Catholic priest Yury Bykau and asked him to visit Ales Bialiatski in prison.

“The priest can only go to the prison on the invitation of the administration. The administration in turn says at least four persons should apply for inviting a priest. I guess the problem is that Ales Bialiatski is limited in his contacts with other prisoners and he just can’t agree with them,” says the activist.