Activist says he'll be tortured if Serbia extradites him to Belarus

Journalist Andrey Gnyot is under house arrest in Serbia for tax evasion - but human rights experts says it's a ruse to extradite him to Belarus.

Transcript

00:00At first glance, this looks like an ordinary apartment in Belgrade, similar to the ones

00:06that many Eastern Europeans have started renting since Russia invaded Ukraine.

00:11However, the flowers, messages of support and an electronic nanowire tracking device

00:17reveal a different story for Belarusian activist Andrei Hunyat.

00:23This advertising director and journalist landed in Belgrade last October and was detained

00:28on a Belarusian warrant for alleged tax evasion.

00:33But he and his team say the extradition request is driven by Lukashenko's regime's desire

00:38to capture him and anyone who broadcasts images of the 2020 Belarusian protests.

00:45A journalist who used to work during protests was detained, arrested, tortured and many

00:52Belgrade's High Court has already ruled that Hunyat should be extradited to Belarus.

01:06He has appealed to the Court of Appeal and expects a decision by the 27th of August.

01:12If he is sent to Belarus, he is certain of the fate that awaits him.

01:17Lawyer and human rights expert Nikola Kovačević tells Euronews that many European countries

01:41rarely decide to extradite people to Russia, Belarus and China because of the risk of political

01:47persecution.

02:07Many critics of Lukashenko face arbitrary arrest and harassment in Belarus.