Lamine Diack, former boss of athletics, opens trial in Paris

Text by: Laura Martel

The trial of the former Senegalese boss of the IAAF and 5 other defendants opened this Monday morning before the Paris Criminal Court. Lamine Diack is being prosecuted for corruption, breach of trust and money laundering in an organized gang, in particular for his alleged involvement in a system of corruption intended to protect doped Russian athletes. Five other people are implicated in this file in several aspects, including his son Papa Massata Diack, former IAAF marketting advisor.

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From our special correspondent

After several postponements, the substantive discussions have finally started. And yet, the Parisian lawyer of Papa Massata Diack first tried to obtain a new postponement, on the grounds that the two historic Senegalese defenders of his client are currently blocked in Dakar because of the pandemic. Application dismissed by the court which argued that the reasonable period of judgment had to be respected and that only one lawyer was legally sufficient for Papa Massata Diack, stressing in passing that the latter is still on the run, despite an international arrest warrant .

The substantive discussions could therefore begin, in the presence of Lamine Diack. The former Senegalese leader, 87 years old yesterday Sunday, recalled that he had health problems and installed himself next to the bar to listen to the long recall of the facts. "  With my hearing problems, it's more practical to hear you,  " he conceded with a smile to the president.

Also on the dock, his ex-lawyer Habib Cissé, and Gabriel Dollé, former head of the IAAF medical and anti-doping service. Two Russian defendants, like Papa Massata Diack, are missing.

In this complex case, the court chose to first address a first aspect of corruption. Lamine Diack and his co-defendants are accused of having extracted a total of almost 3.5 million euros from Russian athletes to have their names removed from the list of suspect athletes and thus be able to continue to participate in the competitions.

The doctor Gabriel Dollé is accused of having received, in particular from the hands of Lamine Diack and his son, 190,000 euros in exchange for a slowdown in the procedures for sanctioning these athletes. Garbiel Dollé and Habib Cissé must begin to be heard this Monday afternoon, the hearing of Lamine Diack is scheduled for Wednesday.

► Read: The Lamine Diack case, symbol of a troubled time for the governance of world sport

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