Dopage russe et corruption dans l'athlétisme: du nouveau dans l'affaire Massata Diack
The new appeal trial of Papa Massata Diack, son of former world athletics boss Lamine Diack, which was due to open Wednesday after the partial overturning of his conviction in the 2011 Russian doping scandal, has been postponed until December 8.
Before the Paris Court of Appeal, the lawyers of Papa Massata Diack and Habib Cissé, another protagonist in the case due for retrial, requested additional time to prepare their defense, a request that was granted. Their clients were not present, AFP noted.
This affair, revealed in 2015, shook the world of sport and precipitated the fall of Lamine Diack (who died in 2021), who had held the presidency of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF, now World Athletics) between 1999 and 2015.
In 2023, the Paris Court of Appeal upheld Papa Massata Diack's first-instance sentence of five years in prison for passive bribery, complicity in passive bribery, bribery, and receiving stolen goods. However, it halved the fine initially imposed on the former IAAF marketing consultant to €500,000.
But in November 2024, the Court of Cassation ruled that Papa Massata Diack should be retried on the charge of complicity in passive corruption, ruling that the appeal court had not sufficiently justified its decision.
The Senegalese man, now 60 years old, had his sentences overturned. The Court of Cassation, however, confirmed his guilt on the other charges (passive bribery, corruption, and receiving stolen goods).
At first instance and on appeal, Papa Massata Diack was found guilty of complicity in a bribery scheme aimed at concealing cases of blood doping among Russian athletes in 2011, a year before the London Olympic Games.
By dragging out the sanctions procedures against these athletes with suspect biological passports, the International Federation had allowed some of them to participate in these Games. In return, the major Russian sponsors had renewed their contracts with the IAAF, in preparation for the 2013 World Championships in Moscow.
Papa Massata Diack was also found guilty of embezzling €15 million in sponsorship contracts through the set-up of shell companies.
On Wednesday, his lawyer, Emanuel de Dinechin, told AFP that his client "firmly contests all the accusations, as he was only the son of the main person concerned. He is looking forward to finally bringing this case to a close."
In 2016, Interpol issued an international search warrant for Papa Massata Diack at the request of the French authorities.
His father, Lamine Diack, was sentenced to four years in prison in 2020. Following his death, the proceedings against him were dropped.
Commentaires (14)
Bats toi Massata, ne lache rien.
Massata est coupable ou innocent, laissons la justice aller jusqu'à terme et prions qu'il sorte de cette épreuve qui l'a abattu MORALEMENT, sans aucun doute.
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