Serbia: Belarusian filmmaker and journalist Andrej Hniot to be retried
Andrej Hniot
RAPID ACTION NETWORK
Update #1 to RAN 02/2024
Update 6 November 2024: Andrej Hniot was freed from house arrest on 31 October 2024 and subsequently allowed to leave Serbia. Hniot held a press conference in Germany on 2 November, where he recalled his ordeal and shared details of his release. PEN International understands that the extradition process in Serbia is still ongoing and continues to call on the Serbian authorities to drop the case against him. Many thanks to all those who took action.
On 11 September 2024, the Court of Appeal in Belgrade overturned an earlier decision to extradite Belarusian filmmaker and journalist Andrej Hniot to Belarus, though ordered the case to be retried. A date for the new hearing by the first-instance Court has yet to be set. Hniot – who is to stay under house arrest – remains at risk of forcible repatriation to Belarus, where it is highly likely that he will be subjected to arbitrary detention and torture.
Serbia is obliged under international law not to deport, expel, return or extradite any person to a country where they are at risk of serious human rights abuses, including torture and other ill-treatment. The Serbian authorities must release him from house arrest immediately and cease the extradition process.
TAKE ACTION
Advocacy
Please send appeals to the authorities of Serbia, urging them to:
Stop the extradition of Andrej Hniot to Belarus and release him from house arrest immediately;
Ensure that, pending his release from house arrest, he is provided with adequate health care.
Send appeals to:
Aleksandar Vučić
Role: President of the Republic of Serbia
Email: predstavkegradjana@predsednik.rs
Miloš Vučević
Role: Head of the Government of the Republic of Serbia
Email: predsednikvlade@gov.rs
Maja Popović
Role: Minister of Justice of the Republic of Serbia
Email: kabinet@mpravde.gov.rs
Ivica Dačić
Role: Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia
Email: nfomup@mup.gov.rs
Send copies to the Embassy of Serbia in your own country. Embassy addresses may be found here: https://www.mfa.gov.rs/en/diplomatic-missions/serbian-diplomatic-missions/embassies
Please reach out to your Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic representatives in Serbia, calling on them to raise the case of Andrej Hniot in bilateral fora.
***Please send appeals immediately. Check with PEN International if sending appeals after 12 November 2024. ***
Outreach
PEN members are encouraged to:
Publish articles and opinion pieces in your national or local press highlighting the case of Andrej Hniot;
Share information about Andrej Hniot and your campaigning activities via social media.
Please keep us informed of your activities. Messages can be sent to Aurélia Dondo, Head of Europe and Central Asia Region at PEN International: Aurelia.dondo@pen-international.org
Solidarity
Messages of solidarity to Andrej Hniot may be sent here: https://www.instagram.com/andrewgnyot
Background
Born on 7 July 1982, Andrej Hniot is a Belarusian filmmaker, journalist, activist and co-founder of the Free Association of Athletes SOS-BY, which notably played a role in the cancellation of the 2021 Hockey World Cup in Belarus, and was subsequently labelled ‘extremist’ by the Belarusian authorities. Hniot also collaborated with a range of independent news outlets during the 2020 protests that swept through Belarus following the disputed presidential elections that saw Aliaksandr Lukašenka return to a sixth term in office.
Andrej Hniot left Belarus for Thailand in 2021 and was travelling to Serbia for work when he was arrested upon his arrival in Belgrade on 30 October 2023, on the basis of an Interpol arrest warrant issued at the request of the Belarusian authorities on alleged charges of tax evasion (Article 243(2) of the Belarusian Criminal Code). Hniot denies any wrongdoings, arguing that these charges are fabricated and in retaliation for his journalistic work and political activism.
On 31 May 2024, Serbia’s High Court ruled in favour of Andrej Hniot extradition to Belarus. Hniot was placed under house arrest on 5 June 2024, after spending seven months in detention in Belgrade Central Prison, where he said he was not provided with adequate medical care and his health deteriorated significantly. On 11 September 2024, the Court of Appeal in Belgrade ruled that the High Court’s decision to extradite Hniot was made ‘based on an incomplete establishment of the facts, which led to a significant violation of criminal procedure rules’ and ordered the case to be retried by the first-instance Court. Hniot remains under house arrest. He must wear a tracking ankle bracelet and is only allowed to leave his apartment for one hour a day.
If returned to Belarus, Andrej Hniot would face up to seven years in prison on charges of tax evasion. Additionally, the Belarusian authorities could charge him with creating or participating in an ‘extremist formation’, which carries up to ten years in prison. As documented by PEN Belarus and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), prison conditions in Belarus amount to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, and torture, with prisoners routinely denied access to medical care, adequate legal representation, and family visits, with those detained on politically motivated grounds subjected to harsher conditions. Several members of PEN Belarus, including Maksim Znak, have been held in incommunicado detention for months. According to the Human Rights Centre Viasna, 1347 people were being detained on politically motivated grounds at the time of writing.
For more information about PEN International’s work on Belarus, please click here.
For more information about PEN International’s work on Serbia, please click here.
Note to Editors:
For further details contact Aurélia Dondo, Head of Europe and Central Asia Region at PEN International: Aurelia.dondo@pen-international.org
