Rogue state

Yesterday, Krystsina Tsimanouskaya was running for her life. The Belarusian sprinter was not on the Olympic track, but on a plane to Vienna hoping to escape the clutches of her government.

After she complained on social media about her coaches, her team tried to bundle her onto a plane back to Belarus. At the airport, she managed to attract the attention of the Tokyo Police, who escorted her to safety. She then found shelter in the Polish embassy on Monday.

Tsimanouskaya knew that she was in danger. The head of the Belarusian Olympic committeeLukashenko is not the first dictator to put his son in charge of the national Olympic governing body. Saddam Hussein's son Uday was in charge of the Iraqi team in 1984, and tortured athletes who displeased him., Viktor Lukashenko, is the son of the small Eastern European country's president, Alexander Lukashenko, who has launched increasingly brutal attacks on his critics in recent months.

Details of her flight had to be kept secret, for fear that Belarus might try to force the plane to land and abduct Tsimanouskaya. In June, a plane carrying the dissidentA person who opposes official policy, especially that of an authoritarian state. Roman Protasevich was grounded while flying over Belarusian airspace. As soon as his plane touched the ground in the capital, Minsk, officials arrested him. He was forced to confess his "crimes" on state television.

Lukashenko has ruled the country since 1994. He came to power in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Promising to protect Belarus from the economic shocks that were then roilingdisturbing or shaking up. the former USSR, the one-time manager of a state pig farmIn the USSR, activities such as farming were controlled by the state rather than individual farmers. Lukashenko ran a state farm in the 1980s, before being elected in 1991 to the new Belarusian parliament. remained popular for many years, in spite of his increasing authoritarianismA form of government in which individual freedoms are severely limited by government power. Examples include Nazi Germany, Khmer Rogue Cambodia and contemporary China.. Changing the constitution and stifling media critics, he firmly entrenched his position.

Last August however, thousands of protestors took to the streets of Minsk, declaring that his sixth election victory was fraudulent Intentionally false and meant to harm or deceive. .

The response that met the protestors horrified the world. Determined not to let what happened to Viktor YanukovychThe former president of Ukraine was ousted by protests in 2013 similar to those in Belarus. in Ukraine happen to him, Lukashenko had thousands arrested, threatened and tortured; some were even killed.

Belarus has long been known as Europe's last dictatorship, but recent years have seen ever greater tyranny. In July, Lukashenko launched a "black week" of raids on NGOsNon-governmental organisations, such as charities or political campaign  , following an earlier crackdown on opposition politicians.

On Tuesday a prominent critic of the regime, Vitaly Shishov, who helped others flee persecution, was found dead in a park in Ukraine.

The USA and European countries have imposed sanctionsEconomic measures designed to punish a country, for instance by excluding it from trade. on the regime, but with little effect. Propped up by Russia's Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko has no need to fear the condemnation of western powers. While some call for more action against the tyrant, others believe that there is little the outside world can do.

Krystsina Tsimanouskaya has managed to escape, but for the rest of Belarus, the threatening words from one of her coaches, caught on tape, ring terrifyingly true. Any opponent of the regime is "like a fly caught in a spider's web".

Should western powers remove Alexander Lukashenko?

Yes, say some. The West has intervened further afield, in Iraq and Libya, why not closer to home? Sometimes, as in Kosovo in 2001, talk is not enough. If NATO and allies want their talk about human rights to be taken seriously, they have to be willing to stand up and act. Lukashenko has brutalised his own people, violated international airspace and dishonoured the Olympics. It is time that he was held accountable.

Not so fast, say others. Those interventions in Iraq and Libya hardly left those countries in a better position. Cruel as Lukashenko is, is he any worse than Western allies such as Saudi Arabia, who have likewise kidnapped and tortured opponents? What is more, as long as Putin wants him to stay, western powers will be unable to remove Lukashenko without triggering a more dangerous conflict.