Agencies
Rio de Janeiro, Sept 9: A member of the Belarus delegation who carried a Russian flag at the Paralympic opening ceremony here Wednesday to support his country’s near-neighbour who are banned from the competition, was stripped of his accreditation, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said here Thursday.
The man, identified by Russian media as Andrei Fomochkin, director of the Republican Centre of Olympic Training for Athletics in Belarus, was hailed as a hero by both Russian and Belarusian officials. But his action fell foul of the IPC’s ban on political gestures.
“The IPC will be speaking to NPC Belarus to remind them that political protests are forbidden at the Paralympic Games,” the IPC said in a statement Thursday, adding that the individual had been identified and his accreditation cancelled. The statement however, did not name the person.
Belarus are not afraid of sanctions, which could follow after the Games are over, presidential spokesperson Natalia Eismont stated.
Meanwhile president of the Belarusian Paral-ympic Committee, Oleg Shepel said the Russian flag gesture at the opening ceremony at the Maracana Stadium here, was to express solidarity with the entire Russian Paralympic team, which was barred by IPC from taking part in the Games.
“We are closely following the developments of this situation,” Eismont said. “As neighbours it is our responsibility to protest against the way, the Russian athletes have been treated. It was just a token of support,” he added.
