Belarusian athlete Krystsina Tsimanóuskaya, threatened with forcible repatriation to her country after criticizing the sports authorities at the Tokyo Olympics, received a humanitarian visa from Poland on Monday.
The case, which has shaken the Games since Sunday, comes after almost a year of fierce repression of any protest in Belarus, a former Soviet republic located between Russia and the European Union (EU) and ruled with an iron fist since 1994 by the president. Alexander Lukashenko.
The sprinter fears being jailed if she returns to her country, which in the last year has seen thousands of arrests and forced exiles of opponents, as well as the liquidation of many NGOs and independent media.
Krystsina Tsimanóuskaya, 24, explained on Sunday that she was forced to end her participation in the Games on the orders of her team's coach.
A few days earlier, she had harshly criticized the Belarusian Athletics Federation for forcing her to participate in the 4x400 meter relay, when she was originally supposed to run the 100 and 200 meters.
According to her, the change is due to the fact that two other athletes had not passed a sufficient number of doping controls.
The athlete was escorted to the airport by officials of the Belarusian National Olympic Committee where she had to spend the night in a hotel before returning to her country.
But from the hotel during the night she contacted heads of the organizing committee of the Games to help her take the plane to Belarus.
The athlete rejected the forced return because she says she is "afraid" of ending up in jail.
The young woman was hardly known before this case, but had publicly expressed her sympathy for the anti-Lukashenko movement.
He finally went to the Polish embassy in Tokyo on Monday and the Polish government confirmed that he had been granted a humanitarian visa.
"It's holding on"
Tsimanóuskaya received a humanitarian visa and "Poland will do whatever it takes to help her continue her sports career," Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz, whose country hosts many Belarusian dissidents, wrote on Twitter.
The Czech Republic and Slovenia had also offered to host her.
Her husband, Arseni Zdanevitch, contacted by phone by AFP, said that he had gone to Ukraine due to the conflict between his wife and the Belarusian authorities, which threatened the "safety" of the couple.
He plans to meet her in Poland.
According to Alexander Opeikin, executive director of the Belarusian Sports Solidarity Foundation (BSSF), an organization that supports athletes in the crosshairs of the Minsk authorities, Krystsina Tsimanóuskaya "is holding on."
"It is clear that it is a stressful situation, not only for athletes, but for anyone who is subjected to such pressure," he said.
According to another head of this NGO, Anatoli Kotov, the sprinter is expected to arrive in Poland on a flight scheduled for Wednesday.
Attempted "kidnapping"?
Belarusian opposition exile Svetlana Tijanóvskaya accused her country's Olympic officials of trying to "kidnap" the athlete.
"Not a single Belarusian who has crossed the country's borders is safe, because they could try to kidnap him," he wrote on Telegram on Sunday, calling for stronger international sanctions against Minsk.
On Monday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had confirmed that the athlete was "safe" in Japan.
The Japanese government "will continue to cooperate closely with the organizations involved and take appropriate measures," dealing with the case "in accordance with the law," government spokesman Katsunobu Kato said on Monday.
The incident comes as the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko, whose son Viktor heads the National Olympic Committee, continues its relentless crackdown on pro-democracy activists.
Belarusian state television criticized the athlete, saying she had "turned her appearance in Tokyo into a great scandal."
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