After participating in the Tokyo Olympics, a Belarusian land player who went into exile in Poland held a press conference on the 5th, saying, "I am happy to be in a safe place," and thanked the Japanese government for their support. He talked about his desire to return to Japan if the current situation in which the Belarusian Lukashenko administration continues to crack down on anti-government groups improves.
Belarus national team player Christina Chimanouskaya (24), a track and field girl, came to Japan to participate in the Tokyo Olympics, but when she wrote her dissatisfaction within the team on SNS, she was deported as "criticism of the administration". He refused to return to Japan on the 4th, and went into exile in neighboring Poland on the 4th.
Chimanouskaya held a press conference in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, on the 5th, saying, "I am happy to be in a safe place," and thanked the Japanese government, police, and the Polish government for their support.
He said he decided to go into exile because his grandmother, who spoke on the phone on the way to the airport, said, "You shouldn't go back to Belarus. You might end up in a hospital or prison."
On top of that, Chimanouskaya said, "I want to return to my home country when it becomes safe," and said that he would like to return to Japan if the current situation where the Lukashenko administration continues to crack down on anti-government groups improves.
At the end of the press conference, he put up a T-shirt written in English saying "I just want to run" and expressed his determination to continue running for freedom.