Vienna (AFP)

Belarusian Olympic sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who refused to return to her country for fear for her safety, made a stop Wednesday at Vienna airport, a stopover on the road to Poland which granted her a humanitarian visa.

The Austrian Airlines plane, which had taken off earlier from Tokyo, landed on the tarmac shortly after 3:00 p.m. local time (1:00 p.m. GMT), an AFP journalist noted.

A black vehicle, followed by two police cars, waited for the 24-year-old athlete to escort him out of sight, while numerous media were present at the scene.

The young woman, in conflict with the authorities of her country, was initially to take a direct flight Tokyo-Warsaw operated by the Polish company LOT.

But she changed her route at the last minute, a new twist in this affair which has dominated the extra-sporting news of the Tokyo Games in recent days.

It was a question of "preserving his safety", explained to the press the Austrian Secretary of State Magnus Brunner, who went to meet him, according to official photos in which the athlete is seen appearing in jeans and a colorful mask. .

Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who is due to fly to Warsaw shortly, appeared "in good shape under the circumstances," he told reporters in the VIP area, after speaking briefly with her.

"She is naturally worried about her family. She is tired and tense after the events of the last few days", "nervous about what awaits her", detailed Mr. Brunner.

If she did not speak either when she left Tokyo or Vienna, she should speak Thursday in Warsaw, according to the pro-democracy Belarusian opposition.

- Double humanitarian visa -

She said Sunday to have escaped forced repatriation to Belarus, a few days after openly criticizing the athletics federation of her country in the middle of the Tokyo Olympics.

She accuses him of having wanted to force him at the last moment to participate in the 4x400-meter relay, when she was initially supposed to run the 100 meters and the 200 meters, a decision that had outraged her.

Fearing that she would end up in prison if she returned to Belarus, Krystsina Tsimanouskaya had obtained help from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and police protection while at Tokyo-Haneda airport.

She then took refuge at the Polish embassy in the Japanese capital, while the IOC initiated an official investigation.

The Polish government, which has pledged to "continue to actively support the entire Belarusian nation and persecuted opposition activists," also granted a humanitarian visa on Wednesday to the sportswoman's husband, Arseni Zdanevich, who had fled to Ukraine. .

Contacted by AFP, the latter expressed his "gratitude", while refusing to say when he would join Warsaw.

- Suspicious death in Ukraine -

This incident sparked new international condemnations from Belarus, a former Soviet republic ruled with an iron fist by President Alexander Lukashenko since 1994 and whose son is the head of the National Olympic Committee.

The pro-democracy movement in Belarus, which had become massive a year ago, is severely repressed by the authorities.

Thousands of opponents have been arrested or had to go into exile.

Belarusian athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya during the women's 100m series at the Tokyo Olympics, July 30, 2021 Giuseppe CACACE AFP / Archives

Vitali Chychov, a Belarusian activist exiled in Ukraine, was found hanged near his home in Kiev, local police said Tuesday, according to whom it could be a "murder camouflaged as suicide".

In May, Belarusian authorities arrested exiled opposition journalist Roman Protassevich after hijacking the airliner he was on, sparking global outcry.

"The Lukashenko regime attempted to commit a new act of transnational repression (...). Such actions violate the Olympic spirit, are an affront to fundamental rights and cannot be tolerated", reacted earlier this week on US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The Belarusian strongman has also been accused in the past of forming "death squads" to eliminate adversaries.

burs-bg-anb / bpa

© 2021 AFP