August 26, Pozirk. Some 100 artists from different countries have joined the Artists for Andrei campaign and signed a petition to the Serbian appeal court and Serbian Justice Minister Maja Popović, demanding the release of Belarusian filmmaker Andrej Hniot.
Belarusian actor Dźmitryj Saviełaŭ and producer Volha Čaikoŭskaja representing the Belarusian Independent Film Academy launched the campaign with the support of the European Film Academy (EFA).
“We are calling on the Serbian authorities to prevent extradition of filmmaker Andrej Hniot to Belarus, where he faces imprisonment, torture and even the death penalty,” campaigners said.
The filmmaker, currently under house arrest in Serbia, is known for documenting 2020 postelection protests in Belarus and may face politically-motivated persecution if deported home, they noted.
Belarusian Nobel Prize winner Śviatłana Aleksijevič, co-founders of the Belarusian Free Theater Mikałaj Chalezin and Natalla Kalada, writer Saša Filipienka, award-winning French actress Juliette Binoche, British filmmaker Ken Loach and Polish director Agnieszka Holland signed the petition among others.
Hniot was arrested in Serbia in October 2023 at the request of the Belarusian police. On Tuesday, a Serbian court will hear his appeal against the decision by the Belgrade High Court to extradite him to Belarus. The hearing will be open to the public.
Hniot’s persecution in Belarus may be related to video production for SOS.by, an opposition association that Belarusian police branded an extremist group.
The filmmaker also cooperated with Current Time, a television and digital news network produced by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in cooperation with the Voice of America.
