Belarusian law students enrolled at European Humanities University are filing reports with JURIST on current circumstances in Belarus under the constitutionally-disputed presidency of Alexander Lukashenka. Katsiaryna Vasilionak files this dispatch from Vilnius, Lithuania.   

Andrey Gnyot was arrested on October 30, 2023, by the border service of the Republic of Serbia upon arrival in the country. He had been accused in Belarus of tax evasion. On the same day, a court decided to send him to a prison in Belgrade.

The reason for Gnyot’s detention was his presence on an international wanted list at the request of the National Central Bureau of INTERPOL by the Republic of Belarus dated September 21, 2023. This request was based on criminal prosecution in Belarus, with the aim of extradition for further criminal prosecution in the territory of the Republic of Belarus. Gnyot’s lawyers insist that this is a case of political persecution and here’s the reason: he is a television commercial and music video director, journalist, political activist, and one of the founders of the Free Athletes Association SOS BY. The Free Athletes Association of Belarus is an organization where athletes honestly express their positions regarding events that have taken place in Belarus since the presidential elections in 2020. This initiative was founded after the presidential elections in Belarus in 2020. It was later declared by the State Control Committee to be an “extremist formation”.

At least 5 public figures of this organization have already been prosecuted for their involvement in it. For example: Alexandra Herasimenya – an Olympic champion, facing criminal prosecution under Part 3 of Article 361 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus (calling for measures of a restrictive nature (sanctions) and other actions aimed at those causing harm to the national security of the Republic of Belarus). The start date of the special proceedings is September 29, 2022.

Initially, Gnyot did not publicly declare his involvement in this organization, but in recent testimonies in the Appeals Court of Belgrade, he admitted for the first time that he is one of the three founders of this organization: “I created the logo, launched the Instagram page, and am the ideological leader of the organization”, he said.

One of the most significant achievements of SOS BY is that the association managed to influence the cancellation of the Ice Hockey World Championship in Belarus and the suspension of funding for the National Olympic Committee of Belarus, which until February 2021 was headed by Alexander Lukashenko.

In June 2021, Gnyot learned that the authorities had become aware of his involvement in opposition activities, and he decided to leave Belarus. He did not know that an international warrant had been issued against him, and in October of last year, he flew to Serbia for work.

It is worth noting that in Belarus Gnyot is accused of tax evasion in the amount of approximately 300,000 euros.

According to his lawyers, the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus should not be applied to him. Gnyot is accused of an act that he allegedly committed during the period from 2012 to 2018, while the law under which he is being prosecuted came into force only in 2019. The retroactive force of the law is prohibited in Belarus by article 104 of the Constitution: “The law has no retroactive effect, except in cases when it mitigates or cancels the responsibility of citizens”.

Therefore, there are substantial grounds to argue that the Lukashenko regime is using Article 243 of the Criminal Code (tax evasion) to combat political dissidents bypassing Article 3 of the Interpol Constitution. This article states: “Organizations are strictly prohibited from engaging in any intervention or activity of a political, military, religious, or racial character”.

Based on the above, as well as the statement of BELPOL (Union of Belarusian Law Enforcement Officers, who sided with the people of the country in 2020), there are serious reasons to believe that Andrey Gnyot is being persecuted by the Lukashenko regime, which illegally holds power in the Republic of Belarus for political reasons.

This political persecutory approach to Belarusian citizens disloyal to the regime is carried out with the involvement of international mechanisms, including INTERPOL, through falsification of data in requests for international legal assistance, in order to circumvent the requirements established in Article 3 of the INTERPOL Constitution.

The decision of the Appeals Court in Serbia on Gnyot’s matter is expected within 20-30 days.