Deportation order revoked
Polish priest welcomes court decision

The lawyer for Father Zbigniew Karolak—the Polish native who was forced to leave Belarus last May because of a deportation order—has welcomed the “sensational” decision of the Brest regional court to annul the deportation.

“The law has triumphed,” Igor Kabalik told the Keston News Service. “Zbigniew Karolak can now get in a car and drive into Belarus on any day, as in a civilized state.” Invited by the Pinsk diocese, Father Karolak had served as parish priest of the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in the western Belarusian town of Brest for nine years, but was forced to leave the country after encountering increasing opposition from the Brest office of the government’s Committee for Religious Affairs and the prosecutor’s office.

The Brest regional court heard Father Karolak’s appeal on November 13. In that appeal the priest argued that the Leninsky district procurator had exceeded his powers when he issued the deportation order and the Leninsky court had been wrong to uphold it. The Brest regional court agreed and halted the action against Father Karolak. “This means that the Leninsky district procurator did not have the right to deport Father Karolak and that the decision had been taken in violation of the law,” Kabalik said.

Asked whether Father Karolak would now return to Belarus to serve as a parish priest, Kabalik declared that this was a matter for the country’s Catholic leadership. “It is Cardinal Kazimierz Swiatek who will decide on his future service in the Church,” he said.

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