On 30 October 2023, Belarusian activist and filmmaker Andrey Gnyot was detained at Belgrade airport.
Andrey was arrested on the orders of Interpol: the Belarusian authorities brought a politically motivated criminal case against the activist and put him on an international wanted list. Andrey spent seven months in a Serbian prison and was subsequently placed under house arrest. Despite the fact that Interpol recognised the political motives of the charges and cancelled the arrest warrant, the activist was deprived of his freedom until the end of October 2024 and remained under threat of extradition to Belarus. If extradited to Lukashenko's authorities, Andrey faced imprisonment under torture conditions and possibly the loss of his life: Belarus remains the only country in Europe where the death penalty exists and is regularly carried out.
The open letter in defence of the filmmaker was signed by cultural figures from around the world, and international human rights organisation Amnesty International also spoke out on his behalf. Russians in 45 cities around the world staged actions in support of Andrey Gnyot, sent appeals to the Serbian authorities and raised funds to pay for his lawyers.
Our united action led to a happy ending. On the very last day of October, Andrei was released!