Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Japan today expressed full support of the defection of the Belarusian Olympic athlete Krystina Tsimanouskaya, and hailed the international support to help her departure on August 4 to Poland, and took the chance to denounce the authorities of Belarus “for their ‘suppression of human rights and freedom of expression.”

“The Government of Japan has worked in tandem with the relevant organizations in dealing with the departure of a Belarusian Olympic Athlete from Japan,” the foreign ministry in Tokyo said. Tokyo’s position is based on the international human rights norms and putting the utmost priority on her physical safety, her safe transfer to the destination, and the protection of her fundamental human rights from abuse.”

The Government of Japan is grateful to the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games for their cooperation during this process, the statement said.

The ministry noted that Tsimanouskaya, an athlete participating in the Olympic Games, a peace festival, had to face “forcible return to her country against her will under pressure from the authorities of Belarus due to her personal views on the competition, which is wrong and unacceptable.”

“It is deplorable that no improvement has been seen in the situation of Belarus after the presidential election about a year ago. Japan once again strongly urges the Belarusian authorities to cease arbitrary detention and violent oppression of its citizens immediately and to engage in the national dialogue that respects the rule of law and democracy,” the Japanese government said.