Vienna (AFP)
Already suspended for life for doping, the Austrian ex-founder Johannes Dürr, whose revelations led to a wave of arrests in the world of Nordic skiing and cycling, was sentenced to 15 months in prison suspended by justice from his country.
Dürr, 32, was also fined 720 euros by the Innsbrück public prosecutor's office after having pleaded partially guilty of the charges of "serious sports fraud" linked to doping and of contributing to the doping of other sportsmen.
The Austrian will also have to reimburse 52,000 euros in gains collected through sports fraud.
The Innsbrück court also sentenced the former Austrian national cross-country ski trainer, Gerald Heigl, to a 12-month suspended prison sentence and a 3,120 euro fine.
Dürr and Heigl have announced that they will not be appealing.
In a documentary broadcast in January by German television, Johannes Dürr presented himself as a "whistleblower" and revealed the existence of a blood doping system, triggering a wave of arrests a few weeks later in Germany and Austria, especially in the Nordic skiing community.
Last October, he was already convicted of doping with EPO, growth hormone and autotransfusion (in 2014), and suspended for life by the Austrian anti-doping authorities.
The Aderlass case ("bloodletting" in German) revolves around the German doctor Mark Schmidt, arrested on February 27 at his office in Erfurt (Germany), and has led to the questioning of several sportsmen of different nationalities.
© 2020 AFP