{"id":72566,"date":"2024-03-12T23:36:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-12T20:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/72566\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:40:57","slug":"serbian-court-overrules-decision-to-extradite-belarusian-video-director","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/72566\/","title":{"rendered":"Serbian court overrules decision to extradite Belarusian video director"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (pixabay.com)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

March 12, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> An appellate court in Belgrade has overruled a decision to extradite video director Andrej Hniot to Belarus, Deutsche Welle<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case is to be investigated further since, according to the court, the motives behind an international arrest warrant were not examined in full. What’s more, Hniot was not allowed to speak during the trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the Belarusian man was not released. His detention was extended by 60 days. The next hearing was scheduled for March 26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the BelPol resistance group, Serbian border guards arrested Hniot and handed him over to police in October 2023, since Belarus put him on an international wanted list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja’s office reported that it monitored the situation and campaigned for Hniot to be released. Cichano\u016dskaja’s counsel told Pozirk<\/em> that the office contacted European and American diplomats in Serbia. Several of them then formed an informal group in Hniot’s support, she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On February 29, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported that Interpol blocked Hniot’s file and looked into why Belarusian authorities put him on the wanted list. His lawyer insisted that the man was persecuted for political, not economic reasons, contradicting Minsk’s claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hniot directed TV commercials and music videos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, he won Effie Russia. In 2016, Marketing.by<\/em> called him \u201cone of the most famous and in-demand\u201d Belarusian directors. His clients included prominent Belarusian brands such as Mark Formelle, Alivaria Brewery, and World Of Tanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The filmmaker may be targeted for making videos for the Free Association of Belarusian Athletes blacklisted as an \u201cextremist\u201d group in Belarus, according to BelPol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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