Swimming

Belarusian Olympic Medalist Herasimenia Sentenced to 12-Year Prison Term in Absentia

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By Riley Overend on SwimSwam

Belarusian Olympic medalist and outspoken activist Aliaksandra Herasimenia was sentenced to 12 years in prison in absentia on Monday. 

Herasimenia, 36, was found guilty on multiple charges, including “calls for sanctions” and other actions “aimed at harming the national security” of Belarus. Her apartment and car were seized by the government along with $48,000 in her bank accounts. 

A three-time Olympic medalist at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Games, Herasimenia also co-founded the Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation (BSSF) with Alexander Opeikin, who was dealt a 12-year prison sentence on Monday as well. Their foundation offered financial and legal support to athletes targeted by president Alexander Lukashenko and other Belarusian authorities. 

In 2020, BSSF called for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to suspend the Belarusian Olympic committee for Olympic charter breaches during violent protests in the country following Lukashenko’s reelection. Last year, the foundation helped cancel international tournaments including the European Track Championships, the Ice Hockey World Championship, and World Modern Pentathlon Championships that Belarus was slated to host. 

Earlier this year amid the Russian military attacks in Ukraine, Herasimenia fled her home for Poland with her 3-year-old daughter, mother and husband, fellow Olympic swimmer Yauhen Tsurkin. A few months later, Lukashenko signed a new law giving courts the power to prosecute Belarusians who had fled the country. Herasimenia was not present for the trial this month held behind closed doors. 

According to the human rights group Viasna, 1,439 political prisoners are currently behind bars in Belarus.

Opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who’s living in Lithuania while fighting her legal battle, tweeted out her condemnation of the sentences handed out to Herasimenia and Opeikin on Monday.

“Shameful!.. This is how the regime tries to punish its opponents in exile,” Tsikhanouskaya said. “The regime can’t get to them, but their property in Belarus was seized, including a car (and) an apartment.”

In 2003, at 17-years old, Herasimenia, already a multi-time European Championship medalist, was given a four-year suspension for anti-doping rules violations, which was later reduced to two years. She would return to represent her country at three consecutive Olympic Games: 2008, 2012, and 2016. At the London 2012 Olympics, Herasimenia won two silver medals, swimming the 50 and 100 freestyle events. She later won a bronze medal in the 50 free at the 2016 Rio Olympics before retiring in 2019.

SwimSwam: Belarusian Olympic Medalist Herasimenia Sentenced to 12-Year Prison Term in Absentia

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