when sprinter krystina timanovskaya publicly criticised her coaches at the olympics, they tried to force her back to belarus. she refused. speaking to the bbc from tokyo, she said she was now scared for herself and for her family. translation: i can t go back to belarus now, of course. - it s definitely not safe for me. i have no idea when i can go back. it may be five or ten years. and today came another reminder of the danger for dissidents. in kyiv, a young belarusian activist was found hanging in a park, but his friends don t believe it was suicide. vitaly shishov fled to ukraine last year to avoid arrest. he d been helping a flood of other opposition supporters who followed. the opposition leader, svetla na tsikhanovskaya, is in forced exile herself. she s been in london, part of a tour seeking international support. she wants tougher measures, more sanctions against alexander lukashenko, the man she tried to topple as president.
sarah rainsford has this report from the belarusian capital minsk. she is a young athlete, thrust into a political row she never thought. when sprinter krystina timanovskaya publicly criticised her coaches at the olympics, they tried to force her back to belarus. she refused. speaking to the bbc from tokyo, she said she was now scared for herself and for her family. translation: i can t go back to belarus now, of course. - it s definitely not safe for me. i have no idea when i can go back. it may be five or ten years. and came another reminder of the danger for dissidents. in kyiv, a young belarusian activist was found hanging in a park, but his friends don t believe it was suicide. vitaly shishov fled to ukraine last year to avoid arrest. he d been helping a flood of other opposition supporters
she s a young athlete, thrust into a political row she never sought. when sprinter kristina simanovskaya publicly criticised her coaches at the olympics, they tried to force her back to belarus. she refused. speaking to the bbc from tokyo, she said she was now scared for herself and for her family. translation: i can t go back to belarus now, of course. - it s definitely not safe for me. i have no idea when i can go back. it may be five or ten years. and today came another reminder of the danger for dissidents. in kyiv, a young belarusian activist was found hanging in a park, but his friends don t believe it was suicide. vitaly shishov fled to ukraine last year to avoid arrest. he d been helping a flood of other opposition supporters who followed. the opposition leader, svetla na tsikhanovskaya, is in forced exile herself.
she denies, and was about to submit a report yesterday and the investigation begins, the ioc emphasising this kind of investigation will take some time but on monday the ioc has also confirmed it had to burn some of its officials from the national and public committee of belarus, including the president s son, for failing to protect the athletes who participated in the demonstrations against the administration. demonstrations against the administration. thank you very much. police in ukraine have opened a murder inquiry after a belarusian opposition activist was found hanged in kyiv, amid suspicions that he was targeted by agents from belarus. the exiles group mr shishov worked for said ukrainian security services had warned that belarusian agents had been sent to kill opponents. we can now speak to peter zalmayev who s director of the eurasia democracy initiative. peter was a friend of vitaly shishov and was due