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Lamine Diack on his arrival at the Paris court, January 13, 2020. REUTERS / Benoit Tessier

Barely opened Monday, January 13, the trial of Lamine Diack, the former boss of world athletics, was postponed to a later date. He is accused of his alleged involvement with five other defendants, including his son, Papa Massata Diack, in a system of corruption aimed at protecting doped Russian athletes.

These are procedural problems which are at the origin of the postponement. Among these, the arrival that very morning, on the prosecutors' desk, of a stack of documents, including the hearing of Papa Massata Diack and banking information, provided by the Senegalese justice in response to requests made in 2016 by the examining magistrates. The court therefore postponed the trial while studying these documents and regularizing the procedure.

" I have a lot to say ... "

Unlike his son who will not appear, Lamine Diack, despite his faltering gait and a sometimes hesitant voice - he is 86 years old - was very present. And when his lawyers ask for a relaxation of his judicial control, in particular the ban on leaving France, the old lion finds his superb: " they say that I will take refuge in Senegal, but I have an honor to wash me. I am convinced that I will be able to demonstrate to you that I am anything but a gang leader who ransoms athletes, ”he insists. But the court refused: once in Dakar, he could no longer be extradited, the risk was too great. A disappointment for Lamine Diack, assailed at the end of the audience by journalists sometimes coming from far away. When his lawyers urged him to leave, he added: " I have a lot to say, but not now. "

The parties are convened on April 27 to a status hearing to review the procedure . Without further postponement, the trial could reopen on June 3 according to the president.

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