(16 Sep 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Belgrade, Serbia – 16 September 2024
1. Various of Andrei Hniot arriving at Serbian presidential building
2. Various of Hniot holding document outside Serbian presidential building
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Andrei Hniot, Belarusian filmmaker:
"I think for now I have very important voices which are heard all around the world. More than 783 voices of very important people who is hearing all around the world and everybody listens to their voices. My voice for now is silent. Nobody is listening to me. And I would like maybe (that) Serbian authorities can hear these voices.”
4. Tracking ankle tag on Hniot’s ankle
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Andrei Hniot, Belarusian filmmaker:
"I expect that my terrible story will finish as soon as possible.”
6. Tilt up of Hniot speaking to press
7. Activists holding placards
8. Activist holding placard depicting Andrei Hniot and reading (Serbian) "Freedom for Andrei Hniot – Lukashenko is a real criminal"
STORYLINE:
A prominent Belarus filmmaker and a critic of the authoritarian government in Minsk on Monday went to Serbia’s presidency to hand an appeal signed by hundreds of fellow-artists urging his release to freedom.
Andrei Hniot was arrested in Serbia last October on an international warrant issued by Belarus.
He was first held in a prison before being transferred to house arrest pending the conclusion of a months-long legal procedure to decide on his extradition to his home country.
Serbian courts initially ruled that Hniot should be extradited but this has been overturned by the Court of Appeals which ordered a new deliberation.
It was not immediately clear when the procedure could end.
Hniot is wanted for alleged tax evasion at home but he insists the accusations have been fabricated and the real reason for the prosecution has been his criticism of President Alexander Lukashenko.
The director and activist has told one of the court hearings in Belgrade that Lukashenko’s regime wanted to punish him for his activism and that he could face torture or even death if returned to Belarus.
Several international organizations including Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Federation for Human Rights have called on Serbia not to extradite Hniot.
The same message was delivered to Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic in a letter dubbed Artists for Andrei that included signatures of more than 780 artists from all over the world, including from Serbia.
“I think for now I have very important voices which are heard all around the world,” said Hniot after leaving the letter at the presidency building in central Belgrade.
"My voice for now is silent. Nobody is listening to me. And I would like maybe (that) Serbian authorities can hear these voices.”
Among those who signed the letter are French actress and president of the European Film Academy Juliette Binoche, Belarusian Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich and others.
There was no immediate reaction from Vucic to the letter.
Hniot filmed mass protests that erupted in 2020 against Lukashenko’s disputed reelection, and covered the harsh crackdown on dissent the government unleashed in response, before fleeing the country to Serbia.
Hniot is only allowed to leave his apartment for one hour a day and must wear a tracking ankle bracelet.
AP video shot by Ivana Bzganovic
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