Canberra – (dpa) – The Australian government confirmed today, Friday, that Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic is not being held once morest his will, while the world number one ranked player continues to be detained in a hotel used to detain refugees and asylum seekers, in light of a dispute. About his exemption from vaccination once morest the emerging corona virus.
“Djokovic is not being held in Australia,” Australian Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said in a radio interview today.
Bloomberg News quoted Andrews as saying that Djokovic “is free to leave at any time of his choosing. In fact, the border forces will make it easier for him.”
And the British news agency (PA Media) reported yesterday, Thursday, that Djokovic, 34, is being held in the “Park” Hotel, a state-run quarantine facility in the Australian city of Melbourne, which also houses asylum seekers, pending the outcome of an appeal once morest the Australian Border Force’s decision to cancel the decision. Entry visa to the country.
Djokovic, who has spoken in the past regarding his position once morest the vaccine, said on social media before traveling to participate in the Australian Open that he had obtained an exemption permit to enter the country, but the Australian authorities refused this, and said that he did not provide adequate evidence to justify the exemption. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said Djokovic had become a victim of political persecution by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and others in the country’s government, and demanded that they move the player from what he described as a horrific hotel to a private rented house. For his part, the father of the Serbian tennis star, Novak Djokovic, said that his son has already become a prisoner of the Australian authorities, in light of a dispute over a medical exemption for the world number one from vaccination once morest the emerging Corona virus.
Djokovic’s father explained: “Novak and his team submitted their documents as did 25 other tennis players (they got an exception) and they had no problems, only Novak had problems.”
He added, “They wanted to humiliate him… They might have said: ‘Don’t come, Novak,’ and that would have been much better, but they wanted to humiliate him and they still keep him in prison.” And the father of the Serbian star continued, “He is not detained, he is in a prison, they took everything he had, even his wallet, they only left him with his phone and did not change his clothes, and there is nowhere to wash his face.”
He continued: “The star that we are proud of is the prisoner of these fools, it is a disgrace to them, the whole free world must rise up on the side of Serbia, it is not a battle for Novak and Serbia, it is a battle of billions of people for freedom of expression and behavior.”
“Novak hasn’t broken any laws, like seven billion other people haven’t done,” he said. “They want to bring us down and let us all kneel.” The Australian prime minister noted that it was Djokovic’s public speaking regarding the exemption that drew attention from the Australian Border Force.
“What the Australian border authorities are doing, is acting on intelligence to draw their attention to potential arrivals in the country,” Morrison told Sky Sports. “When people talk openly regarding what they have, what they will do and their claims, they draw attention to them,” he added.
“Anyone who does that, whether it’s a celebrity, a politician, a tennis star, a journalist, whatever, they can expect to be asked many more questions than others,” Morrison continued.
