Ernst (Ernest) Sabila ( be, Эрнст Сабіла or Эрнэст Сабіла, 18 March 1932 – 5 February 2022) was a Belarusian

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

religious leader, dissident and

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...

survivor.

Biography

Born in the village of Dziehciarouka (now part of Minsk District), SSR Belarus, USSR, he studied at the Minsk Medical Institute. In 1951, while still a student, he was arrested by Soviet authorities and accused of ''religious and nationalist propaganda''. He was sentenced to deathВіншаванні з днём народзінаў Эрнста Сабілы
/ref> but the sentence was then replaced by a 25 years labour camp imprisonment. In 1964, after 13 years in a Gulag labour camp, Ernst Sabila was released and returned to religious activism in Belarus. From the moment of his release, he was under constant surveillance of the

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

. In the 1970s, he managed to receive a part-time degree at the

Minsk State Linguistic University Minsk State Linguistic University (MSLU; '', МДЛУ'') is a public university in Minsk, Belarus. It specializes in language education and offers courses in 18 foreign languages including English, German, French, Spanish, etc., as well as trainin ...

. In 1988, he became

presbyter Presbyter () is an honorific title for Christian clergy. The word derives from the Greek ''presbyteros,'' which means elder or senior, although many in the Christian antiquity would understand ''presbyteros'' to refer to the bishop functioning as ...

of the Evangelian church of Belarus. In 1989, pastor Sabila took part in the founding conference of the

Belarusian Popular Front The Belarusian Popular Front "Revival" (BPF, be, Беларускі Народны Фронт "Адраджэньне", БНФ; ''Biełaruski Narodny Front "Adradžeńnie"'', ''BNF'') was a social and political movement in Belarus in the late 1 ...

. From the late 2000s until his death, Sabila was among the members of the revived

Belarusian Christian Democracy The Belarusian Christian Democracy ( be, Беларуская хрысьціянская дэмакратыя, Bielaruskaja chryścijanskaja demakratyja; russian: Белорусская христианская демократия, Belorusskaya ...

. He died on 5 February 2022, at the age of 89.Памёр пратэстанцкі пастар, былы савецкі дысыдэнт Эрнст Сабіла

References

1932 births 2022 deaths People from Minsk District Clergy from Minsk Belarusian Protestants Belarusian Christian Democracy politicians Soviet dissidents Belarusian prisoners and detainees {{Belarus-bio-stub