The World Hockey Championship withdrawn from Belarus, a "victory" according to the opponent Tikhanovskaïa
The Belarusian President (pictured here in February 2019) is a fan of hockey.
REUTERS - POOL New
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4 min
Under pressure from opponents and sponsors who denounce political repression in Belarus, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) withdrew this Monday in Minsk from the organization of the World Cup scheduled for next spring.
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The IIHF Council "
has determined that it is currently impossible to guarantee the well-being of teams, spectators and officials
" during such a competition, the body said in
a statement
.
Scheduled from May 21 to June 6, the tournament was to be co-hosted by Belarus and Latvia and was a major showcase for Belarusian President
Alexander Lukashenko
, whose controversial re-election last August sparked months of protests.
"
Democracy 1 - Lukashenko 0
", reacted on Twitter the Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek, while the Belarusian opponent in exile Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa saw in this decision "
a victory
".
"
There will be no additional wave of repression on the pretext of
'cleaning up'
the city before the championships,
" she said on Telegram.
While the IIHF has yet to consider "
Latvia's co-host status
", Latvian foreign minister Edgars Rinkevics hailed a "
fair signal that sport should not serve authoritarian regimes
".
Twitter reax belarus
I welcome the decision of @IIHF to cancel Minsk as the host of ice Hockey World Championship 2021. This is the right signal that sports will not be used for the benefit of the authoritarian regimes.
#Latvia will honor its commitment & ready to evaluate hosting entire #IIHFworlds https://t.co/KNsrQ3wmOP
- Edgars Rinkēvičs (@edgarsrinkevics) January 18, 2021
Leaking sponsors
"
Latvia will honor its commitment and stand ready
" to host the entire tournament, continued Mr. Rinkevics on Twitter, a solution also considered by the IIHF for health reasons.
Without clearly mentioning the criticisms targeting Belarusian power, the IIHF explains its decision by "
growing concerns for safety and security linked both to the rise of political unrest and to Covid-19
".
If the pandemic weighs on most major competitions to come, the body is especially embarrassed by the outcry sparked last Monday by the hug of its boss René Fasel with Alexander Lukashenko, during a visit to Minsk.
The Belarusian leader had asked René Fasel to
resist the "
unfair pressure
" of sportsmen and politicians
, such as Czech Tomas Petricek, for whom organizing the supreme tournament in Belarus "would
legitimize a repressive regime
".
In the process, the Czech manufacturer Skoda had let it be known on Twitter on Saturday that he will "not
sponsor the 2021 world championships if Belarus
[was]
confirmed as a co-host country
".
The German firm Liqui Moly withdrew the next day and the Swiss group Tissot said Monday it was "
concerned about human rights
".
Sanction of the IOC
The Swiss boss of world hockey claims to have tried "
to promote the idea that the world championship could be used as a tool of reconciliation to help calm the socio-political problems in Belarus and find a positive path
".
After several warnings, the International Olympic Committee in December suspended Alexander Lukashenko from “
all IOC events and activities, including the Olympic Games
”, because of “
political discrimination
” affecting the country's athletes.
By the end of August, more than 300 high-level athletes, including several Olympic medalists and members of national teams, denounced in an open letter the rigging of votes in the presidential election claimed by Mr. Lukashenko, and called for a new vote.
(With AFP)
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Belarus
Alexander Lukashenko