Kryshcina Cimanouska, who, after her criticism of Belarusian sports activists, was attempted to be taken from Japan, obtained a humanitarian visa at the Polish embassy in Tokyo and will be able to leave for Poland.

The 24-year-old runner was to represent Belarus in the 200-meter run at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. The activists of the Belarusian athletics association had previously tried to force her back to the country. They took her to Tokyo Haneda airport, where, however, Cimanouska managed to lose them and asked the Japanese police for help. Officers allowed her to take refuge at the airport police station, and then members of the International Olympic Committee placed her in one of the nearby hotels.

“I was put under pressure. There was an attempt to get me out of here without my permission. That is why I asked the IOC to intervene,” she explained in a recording published on social media.

MKOL spokesman Mark Adams informed the media that the athlete was taken care of, but it would be up to her to decide what she was going to do next. Within a few hours, she received an offer of help from several European countries, incl. Slovenia, Austria, France, and the Czech Republic. But Cimanouska eventually took advantage of the Polish offer of help. She received the so-called humanitarian visa that will allow her to come to our country and undergo any asylum procedures.

"If she wishes, she can also continue her sports career in Poland," Marcin Przydacz, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, assured on Twitter.

(EURACTIV.pl)