BERLIN — A famous Belarusian movie director and dissident who was held in Serbia for a yr whereas Belarus sought his extradition has been launched and gone to Germany.
Andrei Hniot informed The Related Press that Serbian authorities launched him from home arrest on Thursday, precisely a yr after he was detained. Beneath Serbian legislation, pre-extradition detention can not exceed one yr, stated his lawyer Filip Sofijanic.
Belarus issued a world warrant for Hniot on costs of tax evasion, which he claims are false.
Hniot is a famous critic of Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. He participated within the enormous protests that gripped the nation in 2020 following a a presidential election whose disputed outcomes gave Lukashenko a sixth time period in workplace.
Authorities launched an intensive and harsh crackdown on opposition amid the protests, which continues to the current day. Greater than 65,000 folks have been arrested for protesting or different opposition exercise. The nation’s most outstanding opposition figures at the moment are imprisoned or have fled the nation.
Hniot stated he was capable of go away Serbia with out issues.
“In Berlin I used to be capable of to breathe a sigh of aid and attempt to comprehend that this nightmarish yr is already behind me,” he stated.
Belarusian opposition figures overseas campaigned for Hniot’s launch. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who was compelled to depart Belarus after she ran towards Lukashenko in 2020, stated the German Overseas Ministry and European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen supported efforts to launch Hniot.
The Belarusian human rights group Viasna says there are about 1,300 political prisoners in Belarus, together with the group’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning founder Ales Bialiatski.
