Papa Massata Diack, son of the former president of the International Athletics Federation, Lamine Diackand former marketing advisor of that organization, was sentenced this Thursday to five years in prison for Paris Court of Appealthus confirming the judgment given in the first instance in September 2020.
The new sentence comes almost a year and a half after the death of the man who directed the designs of world athletics -currently World Athletics- between 1999 and 2015, who was sentenced in the same case to four years in prison.
During this time, he hired his son as an adviser and, together with other people, they benefited from bribes to hide positive doping results from Russian athletes in 2011, who thus participated in the 2012 London Games, and create a business network. to divert Federation funds, according to French courts.
The Court of Appeal, however, reduced by half the fine of one million euros imposed in the first instance against Papa Massata Diack.
Diack’s 57-year-old son did not attend the trial in June and is in his native Senegal for fear of extradition to France.
In addition to the powerful president of the International Federation, the one responsible for the fight against doping, the French Gabriel Dollé, who also died in 2021, was convicted for the first time.
Russians Valentin Balájnichev, former president of the national athletics federation, and Alexéi Mélnikov, a former coach, were sentenced to three years in prison, a sentence they did not appeal, but did not serve because Moscow refused their extradition.
Finally, Lamine Diack’s legal advisor, Habib Cissé, sentenced in the first instance to three years in prison, two of which are not served, saw his sentence reduced, because the Appeal revoked the year in prison.
Cissé was the only one of the defendants to attend the trial in January, when he claimed his total innocence.
The case was brought to light by the agent of Russian marathon runner Liliya Shobukhova, who paid 450,000 euros to get off the positive list but claimed a refund after being suspended in 2014.
Investigators traced the payments and reached Papa Massata Diack.
Source: La Verdad
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