Freed Belarusian Activist Thanks Tsikhanouskaya For Aiding Release

Belarusian activist and journalist Andrey Hnyot -- recently freed from house arrest in Serbia -- said talks involving the offices of Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic played a vital role in securing his freedom and ability to travel to Germany.

"A significant event occurred during the UN session [last month] in New York when a team from Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s office spoke with the administration of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic," Hnyot, also known as Andrew Gnyot, told a news conference in Berlin on November 2.

He said the response from the Serbian authorities after that conversation was a positive one.

"The fact that I am here today [in Berlin] and not in a Belarusian prison is a consequence of that communication and negotiation," he told reporters.

Hnyot also thanked the German government for helping to secure his release from house arrest and noted that EU diplomats and international organizations had consistently requested his release from the Balkan nation.

Earlier, in comments to RFE/RL, Hnyot said he was “immensely grateful” to his lawyers and the rest of his legal team and to Tsikhanouskaya and her international team.

During the news conference, Hnyot did not speak about his legal status in Germany and declined to say whether he would seek asylum there, saying it was too soon to make such decisions.

"I am a man without a country, unable to renew my passport, and I need international protection because the Belarusian regime will continue to pursue me," he added.

SEE ALSO: No Escaping The Belarus 'Nightmare'? Serbian Case Tests Lukashenka's International Reach

Hnyot’s release on October 31 brought an end to an ordeal that began when he was arrested at Belgrade's airport in late October 2023 on an Interpol warrant issued by Belarus. The arrest warrant accused Hnyot of tax evasion, a charge he denies.

He was transferred from a Belgrade prison to house arrest in June.

Since September, when the Belgrade Court of Appeals overturned the decision to extradite him to Belarus, he had been awaiting Serbia's final decision on his extradition.

The European Parliament had passed a resolution on political prisoners in Belarus that called on Serbia not to extradite Hnyot, who feared being tortured in a Belarusian prison if he had been returned to his native country.

Hnyot said then that the accusations against him were part of the Belarusian regime’s “horrific repression against political dissidents, journalists, and activists.”

Although he is currently in Germany, Hnyot and his supporters said the process surrounding the Belarus extradition request has not yet been fully concluded.

"The focus of our efforts as his defenders is to reject the extradition request from Belarus and to demonstrate its unfounded nature," said Vladimir Hrle, a member of the legal team in Serbia.

SEE ALSO: Another Political Prisoner Dies In Belarus Jail, Rights Group Says

"Belarus will certainly try to misuse Interpol, as it has done in this and other cases, which could restrict Andrey's right to free movement. We must also fight in that area, even though the initial Interpol request has been deleted," Hrle added.

Serbia's Vucic has attempted to balance relations between Russia and Belarus with the country's ties to the European Union, which he has expressed hopes of joining.

Hnyot is one of hundreds of thousands of Belarusian citizens who took part in mass demonstrations in 2020 challenging the victory claimed by authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka that gave him a sixth consecutive term.

Human Rights Watch says there are almost 1,500 political prisoners in Belarusian prisons. Among them are journalists, human rights activists, and politicians.

Western countries do not recognize the results of the 2020 election, and the EU imposed sanctions on Minsk over the repression of participants in the demonstrations.