LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AFP) — The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said yesterday that it was maintaining current sanctions against sports leaders in Belarus, noting its “great disappointment” at the absence of guarantees that Belarusian athletes will no longer be persecuted for their political opinions.

The executive board of the Olympic body decided to “not recognise” the transition of power at the top of the Belarusian Olympic Committee (NOC) on February 26, which saw the country’s head of state Alexander Lukashenko hand over the reins to his son Viktor, who had previously been vice-president of the organisation.

Consequently, Viktor Lukashenko as well as Dmitry Baskov on the NOC Executive Council remain excluded “from all IOC events and activities, including the Olympic Games”, a measure taken in early December over the NOC’s targeting of athletes for their political views.

Yesterday, the IOC expressed “great disappointment” that the NOC had not addressed the main problem, namely “that the previous leadership… had not appropriately protected the Belarusian athletes from political discrimination within the NOC, their member federations or the sports movement”.

Since December, the IOC has also suspended its funding of the NOC, “with the exception of payments related to the athletes’ scholarships and the preparations of the Belarusian team for, and their participation in, the Olympic Games”.

The Olympic body also said it would ask all relevant international federations to ensure that all eligible Belarusian athletes can take part in qualification events for the upcoming Games in Tokyo and Beijing “without any political discrimination”.

Alexander Lukashenko’s disputed re-election to a sixth term in August led to the most serious political crisis in Belarus’ modern history, with protesters taking to the streets and authorities cracking down on the opposition.

A number of prominent Belarusian athletes supported Lukashenko’s critics and demanded an end to the crackdown.

The turmoil has also led to Belarus being stripped of the hosting rights for this year’s ice hockey world championship.