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The 24-year-old athlete was thought to be flying on a direct flight to Warsaw, but another flight was chosen at the last minute, an airport official said.
He flew from Narita airport, near Tokyo, where he arrived from the Polish embassy. There, she spent the past two nights claiming that the Belarusian Olympic team had tried to force her home when she publicly criticized her coaches.
The sprinter refused to communicate with the media at the airport and her plane flew off shortly after 11pm local time (5am Lithuanian).
„Reuters“ / „Scanpix“ nuotr./Kryscina Cimanouskaja
The runner, who specializes in the 200-meter distance, criticized the Belarusian Athletics Federation on Sunday for trying to force the athlete to participate in a relay race. According to K. Cimanouskaja, after criticism, attempts were made to send her home by force.
Aliaksandr Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron fist since 1994, has cracked down on any display of disobedience following a wave of mass protests sparked by his disputed re-election in August last year. The Belarusian opposition and western countries consider the election rigged.
K. Cimanouskaya was one of more than 2,000. Belarusian sports figures who signed an open letter calling for new elections and the release of political prisoners.
Her husband has already fled to Ukraine, and the couple should meet in Poland, which is a harsh critic of the Lukashenko regime, which has taken in a number of Belarusian opponents persecuted by the Minsk regime.
„Reuters“ / „Scanpix“ nuotr./Kryscina Cimanouskaja
Cimanouskaya arrived at the Polish embassy in Tokyo on Monday night after spending the night in an airport hotel. Warsaw condemned the “criminal attempt to kidnap” the athlete.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Tuesday after speaking with a “brave” sportsman that “he is currently well cared for and safe.”
“I assured him that he can count on the support and solidarity of Poland. In the next few days, he will fly to Warsaw, where he will be able to prosper without hindrance and, if he so decides, he will receive more help,” he said on Facebook.
Officials from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have said they will carry out an investigation into Belarus over the incident, but activists are calling for the country’s Olympic committee to be suspended so that Belarusian athletes compete as neutrals.
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