Belarus dissident fears ‘torture and demise’ if extradited from Serbia

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A yr after being arrested in Serbia, a outstanding Belarusian dissident nonetheless lives in worry he could possibly be extradited to his dwelling nation the place he’s satisfied he faces torture — and even demise.

Andrey Gnyot’s plight highlights not simply the dire prospects for opponents of Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko, a steadfast Moscow ally, but in addition the tightrope Serbia’s management is strolling between western rapprochement and historic loyalty to Russia.

“Twenty-five political prisoners have died in Belarus since 2020,” Gnyot advised the Monetary Instances from his home arrest in a Belgrade flat overlooking a brick wall. “Torture and demise await me there, 100 per cent.”

Lukashenko has been in energy for 30 years and has now incarcerated some 1,300 political opponents, in keeping with the human rights group Viasna.

The 42-year-old was arrested at Belgrade airport final yr based mostly on a global arrest warrant Minsk had requested for tax evasion costs. He had been residing in Thailand since 2021, the place he fled after being invited to be interviewed by the Belarusian safety service, which nonetheless bears the Soviet title, KGB.

He spoke to the FT shortly after Serbia’s appeals court docket despatched his extradition case again to the upper court docket of Belgrade for a 3rd time, extending his painful limbo.

European actors and filmmakers together with Juliette Binoche, Agnieszka Holland and Wim Wenders in August despatched an open letter to the Serbian authorities asking them to not extradite Gnyot.

“For Serbia it’s a tough case of the right way to save face and maintain good relations with those that again Russia and on the identical time maintain its EU integration plan going,” stated Franak Viačorka, senior adviser to the exiled Belarusian opposition chief Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.

“There’s been a number of strain from Brussels, together with from [European Commission President] Ursula von der Leyen, and I believe that any extradition resolution can be a severe blow to the connection with Brussels.”

Gnyot stated he fell foul of the regime primarily as a result of he helped dissident athletes of their response to Lukashenko’s brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests after his 2020 re-election. The athletes despatched an open letter to the Worldwide Olympic Committee demanding an investigation into harassment by the regime and asking the IOC to droop Minsk.

Gnyot’s affiliation additionally contributed to the removing of Minsk as co-host of the 2021 ice hockey world championships, which was ultimately held solely in Latvia.

The Belarusian regime claims to need to sentence him for tax evasion, nevertheless it has beforehand condemned his work and activism towards Lukashenko.

Gnyot stated that he felt secure and much sufficient from Belarus to journey to Serbia a yr in the past for a movie challenge.

“As an alternative of capturing a movie for purchasers in Romania and Sweden, I used to be detained proper on the airport,” he recalled. “They put me in a room with dozens of individuals from all around the world, full of barely a spot to face, no water or meals or rest room break.”

When he advised the Belgrade court docket that tax evasion, “paragraph 243”, was utilized by the Belarusian dictatorship to lock up its enemies, Gnyot recalled the decide saying: “Dictatorship in Belarus? That is the primary I ever heard of that in my life. Do you may have any proof?”

However Viačorka from the Belarus opposition stated that the arrest also needs to elevate questions over how Interpol can generally assist authoritarian regimes.

“Each nation can ship a purple discover to the worldwide database, nevertheless it’s a really bizarre scenario when you may have Interpol principally engaged on behalf of dictatorships to detain these whom dictators don’t like,” he stated.