There is also the barefoot Carmelite friar Grzegorz Gawel, Polish, among the three prisoners freed in Belarus on Tuesday 28 April as part of an exchange with Poland. Arrested last September on charges of espionage, Fra Gawel, 28 years old, a barefoot Carmelite with solemn profession, is in good condition and is now with his family. Great joy, enormous relief and a reason for gratitude were expressed in a statement by his brothers from the Polish province of the order of Discalced Carmelites. “We thank everyone for their prayers, support and solidarity in this difficult moment,” they wrote, expressing “gratitude to the ecclesiastical and state authorities for all the help and commitment made in the actions that led to his release.” The Carmelites themselves reiterate that Brother Gawel “now needs time to rest after this difficult experience”.
The prisoner exchange took place under the so-called “5 for 5” format, which involves the exchange of five people convicted of espionage in Belarus and the Russian Federation for five Russian and Belarusian citizens detained in various European Union countries. The Belarusian side handed over to Poland, among others, in addition to Brother Gawel, also the journalist Andrzej Poczobut, Sakharov Prize winner in 2025, who was serving eight years in prison for covering a government demonstration, and the entrepreneur Tomasz Bieroza, sentenced to 14 years. Russia instead transferred two Moldovan intelligence officers. On the European side, the five people exchanged were Alexander Belan, convicted in Moldova of treason and former deputy head of the Moldovan Information and Security Service, Uladzislau Nadzeika, detained in Poland on charges of espionage and the Russian archaeologist Alexander Butyagin, whose extradition had been requested by Ukraine for “illegal excavations” in occupied Crimea, as well as the Russian citizen Nina Popova, wife of an official. The name of the fifth exchanged, an intelligence officer, was not released.
Also welcoming the prisoners in Poland, at the border checkpoint with Belarus “Pererov-Belavezh”, was Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who on X also thanked the “friends” of the United States, Romania and Moldova. The release of the prisoners came after a complex and long negotiation process.
Last November, two priests were released in Belarus: Father Henryk Akalotovich, parish priest of the church of St. Joseph in Valozhyn and Andrzej Yuchniewicz, of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (Omi) serving at the diocesan sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima in Shumilino, accused of various crimes and detained for at least two years. On that occasion the Belarusian Episcopal Conference underlined “the resumption of dialogue between the Republic of Belarus and the United States, as well as the strengthening of contacts with the Vatican”. There are currently two priests of Belarusian citizenship still in prison in Belarus: one Latin and one Greek Catholic. There is no precise information about them. But recent events allow us to have confidence for the future.
