Zmitser Pawlichenka, suspected of abduction and possible murder of Lukashenka’s political opponents, was awarded with the order of the Russian Orthodox Church. Families of the disappeared are indignant about the award.
Minsk diocesan board of the church states that colonel Pawlichenka was rewarded for active participation in construction of a church on the territory of the military unit he commanded. Archbishop Filaret interceded with Alexey II, Patriarch of Moscow and All the Russian Federation, for Pawlichenka to get the award.
Senior priest Aliaksandr Yatskevich explained, that Pawlichenka “directly participated in construction, and supported both physically and morally”. On the question if the Church knows that Pawlichenka is one of the key figures in Christos Pourgourides’ report on the missing public and political figures, he replied:
“I don’t know absolutely anything. The Church and the eparchy do not participate in any kind of political actions. We have nothing to do with it, and know nothing about that”.
Secretary of Minsk eparchy Mikalay Korzhych claimed the same: “We don’t have any information, we don’t know if it’s true – it’s outside our competence”.
According to RFE/RL
