Filmmakers Urge Serbia Not to Extradite Activist to Belarus

Dozens of European directors, actors, and artists have urged Serbian authorities not to extradite Belarusian activist Andrei Gnyot back to Belarus. In an open letter published on Monday, they warn that Gnyot faces “imprisonment, torture, and even the death penalty” if he is returned to Belarus.

Gnyot, a filmmaker instrumental in organizing an alliance of athletes to oppose Alexander Lukashenko’s authoritarian regime, was detained upon his arrival in Serbia last year. Belarus had issued a warrant for his arrest on tax evasion charges via Interpol, but Gnyot insists the charges are politically motivated.

After spending seven months in jail in Belgrade, Gnyot was released to house arrest in June. A Serbian court is set to hear his final appeal on Tuesday, after several decisions have gone against him. If the appeal fails, Gnyot could be deported at any moment, with a veto from the country’s justice minister as his last chance to avoid extradition.

“He is known for making documentary footage during the Belarus 2020 protests and recording athletes’ appeals for free and fair elections. He is being prosecuted by the Belarusian authoritarian regime for these activities,” the letter states. The signatories include French actor Juliette Binoche, president of the European Film Academy; Belarusian Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich; Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov; and Ukrainian director Oleh Sentsov, a former political prisoner in Russia.

“The Serbian authorities should consult international human rights organizations, which in this case are calling for the immediate release of Gnyot, emphasizing that the charges are politically motivated,” said award-winning Polish director Agnieszka Holland, who also signed the letter. “Now, it is a matter of life and death for this filmmaker. If extradited, Andrei faces torture, years in inhumane conditions, or worse.”

Actor Mitya Savelau, who organized the letter, claimed there was little doubt that the Belarusian regime was abusing Interpol by demanding arrest warrants in political cases under the guise of economic crimes, despite the agency’s ban on such practices.

Savelau highlighted a case from 2021 when authorities in Minsk tried to issue a warrant for political leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who fled the country after a crackdown on a protest movement in 2020 following her defeat by Lukashenko in a widely disputed presidential election.

“Interpol refused to go through with it, but it unveiled the tactic that has since been repeatedly used by Lukashenko to track down Belarusian democracy activists,” Savelau added.

“In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential elections and Lukashenko’s crackdown on the protesters, between 300,000 to 500,000 Belarusians had to flee the country to safety. And all of us are in danger of being in a situation like Andrei.”

In June, several Belarusian athletes told the Guardian that Gnyot had been active in organizing dissident athletes. “Andrei played a big role. A lot of sportspeople didn’t understand how to organize or make videos, and he helped us a lot,” said Aliaksandra Herasimenia, a swimmer who won two Olympic silver medals in London in 2012. Herasimenia was later sentenced in absentia to 12 years in prison and now lives in exile.

Aware that a criminal case could be opened against him, Gnyot left Belarus in 2021 and later settled in Thailand. He was arrested last October at Belgrade airport after arriving in Serbia to shoot a television commercial.

In a message from Belgrade, Gnyot appealed to the Serbian justice minister to block his extradition if the court rules against him. He said he “felt nothing” after the lengthy court ordeal.

“In the 10 months of waiting to be sent to my death, all my feelings have been burned out. I will only fight for truth and justice. For my life and for the lives of other Belarusians, because torture and death await us in dictatorship,” he said.

Source: The Guardian, The Telegraph