International Olympic Committee Mr. Thomas Bach (IOC) President of the International Olympic Committee Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee Athletes’ commission of the International Olympic Committee Château de Vidy - C.P. 356-CH-1007 Lausanne/Switzerland Tel. + 41 21 621 61 11 Fax + 41 21 621 62 16 www.olympic.org Athletes: Volha Mazuronak (Athletics) Darya Barysevich (Athletics) Sviatlana Kudzelich (Athletics) Andrei Krauchanka (Athletics) Dzmitry Shershan (Judo) Aliaksandr Vakhaviak (Judo) Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation Concerned parties: National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus November 26, 2020 Request on determination of the Olympic Charter violation by the NOC Belarus 1. On October 5 2020, the initiative group of the Belarus Athletes Free Union «SOS_BY» sent the statement to the International Olympic Committee (“the IOC”) on the violations of the Olympic Charter by the National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Belarus (“the NOC Belarus”). 2. With regard to the statement, the stated initiative group additionally informs the IOC on the factual and legal background of the NOC Belarus violations. 1 I. Factual background 3. Since the presidential election in Belarus the representatives of Belarusian sports community have condemned severe breaches of law committed by the Belarusian authorities. More than 1200 athletes and representatives of Belarusian sports community have signed an open public appeal to Belarusian authorities demanding stop the violations, including severe violence, and restitute the violated rights (“the Open Letter”).1 Consequently, the authorities have been punishing stated representatives for expressing their civic stance. 4. The Belarusian sports authorities repressed more than 65 athletes and sports officials, including those athletes who have qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and those who have all chances to be qualified. With this Request, we draw your attention to 6 cases of top-level athletes discrimination: Volha Mazuronak, Sviatlana Kudzelich, Andrey Kravchenko, Darya Barysevich, Dzmitry Shershan, and Aliaksandr Vakhaviak (“the Athlete(s)”). Volha Mazuronak 5. Volha Mazuronak, is an Olympian Belarusian athlete, long-distance and marathon runner. Volha Mazuronak is a top-level athlete: 2018 European champion in athletics, 5th place at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, 5th place at the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships, national record holder in marathon and half marathon, winner of multiple international tournaments. She has already qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.2 6. As an athlete, Volha Mazuronak is adhered to the Olympic Charter and cannot but have signed the Open Letter meant to condemn the violence. Consequently, the authorities have taken following unlawful measures against the Athlete. 7. The officials of the Ministry of Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Belarus (“the Ministry of Sport”) held different kinds of conversations and meetings with the Athlete trying to convince her to withdraw her signature on the Open Letter. The main argument was that the sports future of Volha Mazuronak would be under the question if she continued to express her condemnation of discrimination, violence, human rights violations.3 1 See the attached copy of the Open Letter. 2 The first result at Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2019. 3 All warnings of the Ministry of Sport were of oral form. Mr. Sergey Kovalchuk, Minister of Sports and Tourism, refused to set the meeting with V. Mazuronak. Mr Aliaksandr Baraulia, Deputy Minister of Sports and Tourism, and Mr. Mikhail Prokopenko, Head of the National Teams Department, were the officials who set so-called “preventive conversations”. Herewith, Mr. Mikhail Prokopenko laid it straight that Volha Mazuronak had all these problems with training opportunities because of the fact that she had signed the Open Letter. 2 8. Despite stated threats, Volha Mazuronak did not change her position and did not withdraw her signature on the Open Letter. 9. Volha Mazuronak officially serves as an athlete-instructor in rank of lieutenant in Sports Committee of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Belarus (“the Ministry of Defense”). The Ministry of Defense has neither training opportunities nor mandate to prepare its military servants to international sports competitions.4 As a result, the Ministry of Defense assigned Volha Mazuronak to the Ministry of Sport for sports training purposes.5 10. Taking into account the fact that the Athlete is a military servant, and after V. Mazuronak’s refusal to withdraw the signature, the Ministry of Sport announced to the Ministry of Defense that Volha Mazuronak is not officially an athlete within the Ministry of Sport system and the Ministry of Defense should revoke her back to the military forces. As a result, the Minister of Sports and Tourism and Minister of Defense signed the order on the Athlete’s recall. 11. Along with application of unfounded recall, the Ministry of Sport withdrew the Presidential scholarship from Mazuronak. Within Belarusian legislation, Volha Mazuronak is entitled to Presidential scholarship on the grounds of outstanding sporting achievements: the 5th place at 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships; the 1st place at 2018 European Athletics Championships.6 4 According to the provision 7.45 of the Regulation on the Ministry of Defense entered into force with Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus dated 07.12.2006 No 719, the Ministry of Defense has the right to regulate only the activities of Ministry of Defense teams. At the same time, the Ministry of Sport has the exclusive right to set, control and carry out the process of the national teams’ formation and preparation for competitions. Thus, under the provision 5 of the Regulation on Sports and Tourism Ministry of the Republic of Belarus entered into force with the Regulation of the Council of the Republic of Belarus dated 29.07.2006 No 963 “Issues of the Sports and Tourism Ministry of the Republic of Belarus” (“the Regulation on the Ministry of Sport”), one of the main purposes of the Ministry of Sport activities is: “[…] to supervise the preparation of the sports reserve, top-level athletes, including the coordination of the organization of the educational and training process in order to prepare the sports reserve, top-level athletes in organizations of various types (types), regardless of departmental affiliation and forms of ownership […]”. In accordance with provision 6.8 of the Regulation on the Ministry of Sport, the Ministry of Sport sets the rules on the procedure of national teams’ formation and exclusion from such teams. Herewith, provision 6.12 of the Regulation on the Ministry of Sport determines that the Ministry of Sport is responsible for formation of national teams, their trainings and preparation to participation in international sports competitions. 5 In Belarus, it is a common practice to assign top-level athletes from the Ministry of Defense to the Ministry of Sport for sports trainings. 6 The Regulation on the process of granting of individual Presidential scholarships entered into force with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus dated 15.04.2013 No 190 (“the Regulation on Presidential Scholarships”) that establishes the procedure of Presidential scholarships issuance. Under the provision 12 of the Regulation on Presidential scholarships, the criteria for scholarships issuance are the high sporting performance of athletes. At the same time the withdrawal of the scholarships could be applied in case of decrease in athletes’ results 3 12. The described facts result in the conclusion that Volha Mazuronak’s recall and discontinuance of Presidential scholarship are the punishment set by the Ministry of Sport for the Athlete who openly expresses her civic position. As a result, now the Athlete is lack of any technical and medical support relevant for the due trainings 13. That being said, the Ministry of Sport severely violated Volha Mazuronak’s right to engage in sport. The NOC Belarus has not taken any actions to investigate the stated case and protect the Athletes’ right to engage in sport granted at national and international levels by the Olympic Charter. Darya Barysevich 14. Darya Barysevich is a middle-distance runner, silver medalist of the 2017 World Championships, silver medalist of the European Games. She has already qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.7 15. Darya Barysevich is an instructor in sports of Border Service. The State Border Committee of the Republic of Belarus (“the State Border Committee”) is not entitled to prepare athletes for international sports competitions. 8 As a result, the stated committee assigned Darya Barysevich to the Ministry of Sport for the training purposes. 16. After the Athlete signed the Open Letter, the Belarusian sports authorities took the following measure to influence Athlete’s civic position. 17. Michail Partny, the Deputy Minister of Sports and Tourism, unofficially called to the State Border Committee to ask for Darya Barysevich's recall. As a result, the State Border Committee recalled Darya Barysevich back to service. In its turn, the Ministry of Sport signed such a recall on September 19, 2020 and stated the general non-sufficient reason for it: “to perform sports instructor’s duties”. 18. There were several unofficial preventive conversations with the Athlete held by the Belarussian sports authorities. During such conversations, the stated authorities said: “it would be better