Belarus sprinter says punishment awaited her back home

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By DANIEL KOZIN

MOSCOW (AP) — Belarusian Olympic sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who plans to seek refuge in Europe after accusing team officials of trying to force her to leave the Tokyo Games early, said Tuesday that officials from her country “made it clear” she would face punishment if she returned home.

Tsimanouskaya, who had criticized the management of her team on social media, said officials hustled her to the airport and tried to put her on a plane back to Belarus, where the autocratic government has relentlessly stifled dissent and any criticism. She said she hopes to continue her career, but for now her safety remains a priority.

In the dramatic standoff, several countries offered her help, and Poland granted her a humanitarian visa Monday. She plans to fly to Warsaw later in the week, according to an activist group that is helping her.

“They made it clear that upon return home I would definitely face some form of punishment,” the 24-year-old sprinter told The Associated Press in a videocall interview. “There were also thinly disguised hints that more would await me.”



Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, of Belarus, runs in the women's 100-meter run at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 30, 2021. Tsimanouskaya alleged her Olympic team tried to remove her from Japan in a dispute that led to a standoff Sunday, Aug. 1, at Tokyo’s main airport. An activist group supporting Tsimanouskaya said she believed her life was in danger in Belarus and would seek asylum with the Austrian embassy in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/2020-tokyo-olympics-track-and-field-sports-europe-belarus-a59d6b7fd91998428a23479af71c1868

[UpInArms]

1. Related? Murder investigation launched after Belarus activist found dead in Ukraine

The leader of a group that helps people flee persecution in Belarus was found dead in a park near his home in Ukraine early Tuesday, prompting police to launch a murder investigation.

The body of Vitaly Shishov, who led the group Belarusian House, was discovered hanged in a park, police said in a statement, according to The Associated Press. He went for a jog the day before and didn't return, Belarusian House said.

"There is no doubt that this was a planned operation by security operatives to liquidate a Belarusian, dangerous for the regime. We will continue to fight for the truth about Vitaly's death," Belarusian House asserted, according to AP.

… more at

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/belarus-vitaly-shishov-ukraine-murder-investigation-launched-after-activist-found-dead/

And from another source:

Authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has vowed to continue what he called a “mopping-up operation” against civil-society activists whom he has denounced as “bandits and foreign agents.”

Lukashenka faced months of protests triggered by his being awarded a sixth term in an August 2020 vote that the opposition and the West saw as rigged. He responded to demonstrations with a massive crackdown that saw more than 35,000 people arrested and thousands beaten by police.

The Belarusian House in Ukraine said in a statement Tuesday that Shishov was forced to move to Ukraine in the fall of 2020, when antigovernment protests and crackdown on demonstrators in Belarus were in full swing.

In Ukraine, he was under surveillance, and “both local sources and our people in Belarus” have alerted the group to the possibility of “various provocations, including kidnapping and liquidation.”

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/murder-probe-launched-after-belarusian-dissident-in-neighboring-ukraine-found-hung-in-kyiv-park-01627991921?mod=mw_latestnews

[oldsoftie]

2. belarus is just Putins angry little child.

Excise them from the world community after that airliner kidnapping

[bucolic_frolic]

3. The iron fist awaits us if fascists ever take power

We have work to do. Every seat saved in 2022 echoes for subsequent elections. Time to double our efforts well before the midterms.

[samsingh]

4. i hope she stays safe