Belarusian opposition journalist and activist, who was under house arrest in Serbia pending his extradition to Minsk, said he had left Serbia for the European Union.
Belarus has requested the extradition of Andrei Gnyot, arrested in Belgrade in 2023 on money laundering charges that his supporters say are politically motivated.
Gnyot said on Instagram that he was "evacuated from Serbia to the EU" after "a year of desperate struggle, seven months, six days in jail and five months under house arrest."
"My story is a Hollywood movie!" he said.
Ggnot did not give details of the country he was heading to, but only said he would address the media in the coming days.
"Please give me some time to get used to the freedom and security I haven't had in so long."
Gnyo was one of the organisers of the unprecedented anti-government protests in Minsk in 2020 that accused Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko of rigging the presidential election.
In October 2023, Gnyot was arrested in Belgrade on the basis of an Interpol notice - subsequently withdrawn - accusing him of tax fraud worth several hundred million euros.
He has always denied the tax fraud allegations, claiming that they were made up by the Belarusian authorities to silence him.
In 2021, Gnyot fled Belarus and said his life would be in danger if he were sent back.
The first decision to extradite him was made in December.
It was then overturned and returned to a lower court in Serbia, which again ruled in favour of his extradition in May.
In September, the Court of Appeal overturned the extradition decision for the second time and again sent the case back to the lower instance.
At the time, nearly 800 artists, including director Pedro Almodóvar and actress Juliette Binoche, called on Serbia to defend Gnot. | BGNES
