BELGRADE, Serbia — A Serbian court has ruled to extradite a Belarusian filmmaker and pro-democracy political activist to the authoritarian government in Minsk where he could face prison and torture, his lawyers and supporters said Friday. He is wanted in Belarus for alleged tax evasion.
Hniot was arrested last year on Oct. 30 at Belgrade airport based on an Interpol warrant issued at the request of the Belarusian authorities for alleged tax evasion. Since then, he has been held in detention at Belgrade Central Prison.Poland honors soldier who was fatally stabbed by migrant at border with BelarusAn appeals court in early March overturned a decision by the Higher Court in Belgrade, which had ruled that the legal prerequisites for his extradition to Belarus had been met.
Hniot said at one of the court hearings that Lukshenko’s regime wants to punish him for his activism. “We openly opposed the dictatorship, human rights violations, and electoral fraud in Belarus in 2020,” he said.