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Serbia releases a Belarusian activist

2024-10-31 22:05:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Belarusian activist and journalist Andrey Hnyot (also known as Andrew Gnyot) has been released from house arrest in Serbia and allowed to leave for an unspecified European country, his lawyers told Radio Free Europe on October 31.

"Today, after a year-long struggle - seven months and six days in prison and five months under house arrest - Belarusian journalist and political activist Andrey Hnyot was evacuated from Serbia to the European Union," Maryya Kolesava-Hudzilina told Radio Free Europe. .

Hnyoti's lawyer in Belgrade, Filip Sofijanic, confirmed for REL that the High Court in Belgrade removed the measure against his client on October 31, after the legal deadline of one year expired.

"Example. they could have taken another measure, asking him to report to the police, but they did not do so," said Sofijanic.

Hnyot told REL that "I am extremely grateful" to his lawyers and his legal team as well as to Belarusian opposition politician Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya and her international team.

He also thanked the Belarusian opposition politician in exile, Paval Latushka, for his help in monitoring and publicizing the case against him. He also expressed gratitude to civil society and human rights organizations, media, journalists, friends, family, colleagues from the film industry "and thousands and thousands of people who fought for my life".

"My case is like a Hollywood movie," he told Radio Free Europe. "I have many things to tell. It just takes me a while to get used to the freedom and security I've been missing for so long. In the next few days I will invite everyone to a press conference. Long live Belarus".

Hnyoti's release ends his battle that began with his arrest at Belgrade airport in October 2023, after Belarus had issued an arrest warrant against him through INTERPOL. The arrest warrant accused Hnyoti of tax evasion, a charge he has denied. He was sent from a Belgrade prison to house arrest in June.

Since last month, when the Court of Appeal in Belgrade overturned the decision to extradite him to Belarus, he had been waiting for Serbia's final decision on his extradition.

Last month, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on political prisoners in Belarus and called on Serbia not to extradite Hnyoti, who had expressed fears he would be tortured in Belarusian prisons if returned to his homeland.

At the time, Hnyot stated that the charges against him were part of the "terrible repression" of the Belarusian regime "against political dissidents, journalists and activists".

He is one of hundreds of thousands of Belarusian citizens who took part in mass protests in 2020, organized to challenge Alyaksandr Lukashenka's claimed victory in the presidential election, which gave him a sixth consecutive term.

There are more than 1,500 political prisoners in Belarusian prisons. Among them are journalists, human rights activists and politicians.

Western countries do not recognize the results of the 2020 presidential elections, and the EU has imposed sanctions on Minsk due to the suppression of the participants in these protests. /REL