A dissident film director from Belarus is released after 1 year of detention in Serbia

Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — A noted Belarusian film director and dissident who was held in Serbia for a year while Belarus sought his extradition has been released and gone to Germany. Andrei Hniot told The Associated Press that Serbian authorities released him from house arrest on Thursday, exactly a year after he was detained. Hniot’s lawyer says Serbian law allows extraditon detention to last only up to a year. Belarus issued an international warrant for Hniot on charges of tax evasion, which he claims are false. Hniot is a noted critic of Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. He participated in the huge protests that gripped the country in 2020 following a a presidential election whose disputed results gave Lukashenko a sixth term in office.