Journalist who became a prisoner: "I don't even have money for food and medicine"

Andrej Gnjot was detained at the Belgrade airport in October 2023 and referred to Interpol at the request of Belarus. The Belarusian Prosecutor's Office accuses Andrei of not paying taxes in the amount of 2012 thousand Belarusian rubles in the period from 2018 to 900. writes the Public Service.

According to Andrei, the case was fabricated in order to forcibly return him to Belarus and convict him on the basis of political articles. Belarusian authorities started using such a scheme as early as 2021, as Interpol does not accept requests for political articles.

Gnyot graduated from the Faculty of Journalism of the Belarusian State University BSU and has always been politically active.

In 2020, Andrej became one of the founders and inspired the creation of the Association of Free Athletes SOS.BI, whose members participated in peaceful protests and solidarity campaigns.

As of August 2020, Andrej is a member of the Professional Journalists Video Sharing Group. Andrei sent many videos, which were broadcast on the TV channel "Real Time" and other independent Belarusian media. And the Instagram page SOS.BI she became a media resource with 20 thousand followers.

Since October 2020, the repression of athletes who were members of the Association began. They were detained, beaten, tried and imprisoned, where they continued to humiliate and beat them. Many of them had to flee abroad.

In June 2021, Andrej was invited to the Main Department of the Investigative Committee of Minsk. The investigator, who signed the document, is known for leading the most famous repressive political processes, such as the case of Roman Protasevich and Eduard Palchis. After that, Andrei decided to leave the country. First to Russia, and then to Thailand, where he worked and lived until his detention.

In October 2022, the KGB marked SOS.BI as an extremist formation. This means that participation, assistance and any contact with the Association is a criminal offense.

In December 2022, criminal proceedings were initiated against Andrej Gnjot. On December 7, 2023, the High Court of the Republic of Serbia, where Andrej was then, decided to extradite him. The decision was appealed only on February 19, 2024, and returned for a second hearing on March 26 and April 1. All this time, Andrej was in the Central Prison in Belgrade, among real murderers, rapists and leaders of drug cartels. However, even after the repeated trial, Andrej remained in prison until June 5, when the Court of Appeal replaced the ban with house arrest.

Left without money for lawyers, food and medicine

In prison, Andrei's health deteriorated significantly — his left leg was partially paralyzed. Medical care in prison was practically unavailable, he did not even get regular painkillers, Public Service Broadcasting.

Andrej currently has no business or other passive income. He has had to pay expensive lawyer's fees for 8 months, and since April 25 he has had to pay rent for an apartment under house arrest, which costs several times the market price. No one wants to rent an apartment to a person under house arrest, and those who agree demand high fees. The rent for the apartment for 3 months was 5000 euros — and that was an advance payment just for signing the contract. But more money is needed for lawyers, food and medicine.

Today, the attention of the whole world is focused on Andrei, but it does not bring funds. No one undertakes to pay lawyers, rent an apartment, no one brings food to Andrei for free. Support is moral, political and public, but not material. Without a lawyer, it is impossible to defend yourself in court, and the last hearing has not yet been scheduled.

He needs 10.000 euros.

They say you can't buy life, but in Andrej's situation, you can. You can change prison to house arrest — with money. Lawyers have to work — it takes money. Health must be maintained - it requires money. You have to eat and drink every day — that requires money.

To begin with, Andrej needs 10.000 euros. He describes his current situation as follows:

"I don't spend money on clothes: I have one pair of sneakers, 4 shirts, 1 pair of pants." As long as it's summer and warm, that's enough for me. Although it cannot be called clothing”.

"I don't have any health insurance because there is no money for it." It's a big risk: in case of any illness or injury, or if your leg gets worse, you'll have to pay a lot of money for medicine — medicine is paid for here, and it's even more expensive for foreigners."