Hniot said he was able to leave Serbia without problems.

“In Berlin I was able to to breathe a sigh of relief and try to comprehend that this nightmarish year is already behind me,” he said.

Belarusian opposition figures abroad campaigned for Hniot's release. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who was forced to leave Belarus after she ran against Lukashenko in 2020, said the German Foreign Ministry and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen supported efforts to release Hniot.