The Belarusian KGB offered Catholic priest Henryk Okolotowicz his freedom in exchange for participating in a provocation against the Vatican's apostolic nuncio, but he refused the offer.
An article by the Norwegian human rights organization Forum 18 highlights the pressure exerted by Belarusian special services on priests and religious communities, as reported by Christian Vision.
The article reveals that KGB employees stated, “We will visit him in prison many more times so that he might change his mind.”
Additionally, Forum 18 describes systematic methods of controlling religious life, which include recruiting informants within parishes, pressuring clergy — especially those who studied in Ukraine or Poland — and attempts to depict the Church as a “spy structure.” The publication notes that since 2020, following the suppression of protests, the regime has viewed religious organizations as a potential threat and has increased surveillance, including secret recordings of sermons and interrogations of clergy.