BERLIN — A famous Belarusian movie director and dissident who was held in Serbia for a 12 months whereas Belarus sought his extradition has been launched and gone to Germany.
Andrei Hniot advised The Related Press that Serbian authorities launched him from home arrest on Thursday, precisely a 12 months after he was detained. Underneath Serbian legislation, pre-extradition detention can’t exceed one 12 months, stated his lawyer Filip Sofijanic.
Belarus issued a world warrant for Hniot on expenses of tax evasion, which he claims are false.
Hniot is a famous critic of Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. He participated within the big 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 in depth and harsh crackdown on opposition amid the protests, which continues to the current day. Greater than 65,000 folks had 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 in a position to depart Serbia with out issues.
“In Berlin I used to be in a position to to breathe a sigh of reduction and attempt to comprehend that this nightmarish 12 months is already behind me,” he stated.
Belarusian opposition figures overseas campaigned for Hniot’s launch. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who was compelled to go away Belarus after she ran towards Lukashenko in 2020, stated the German International 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.
