Ex-head of world athletics Diack gets jail for corruption

VIDEO SHOWS: FORMER INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ATHLETICS FEDERATION HEAD, LAMINE DIACK INSIDE COURTHOUSE AFTER VERDICT / LAWYERS SAYING THE DECISION WAS INHUMANE AND THAT THEY WILL APPEAL / FRENCH ATHLETE SAYING SHE'S HAPPY ABOUT THE DECISION

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

SHOWS:

PARIS, FRANCE (SEPTEMBER 16, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

1. VARIOUS OF FORMER INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ATHLETICS FEDERATION HEAD, LAMINE DIACK, EXITING COURTROOM AFTER VERDICT

2. LAWYER FOR DIACK TALKING TO REPORTERS

3. (SOUNDBITE) (French) LAWYER OF LAMINE DIACK, SIMON NDIAYE, SAYING:

"We have just heard the verdict and we are telling you straight away that Diack's defense team will appeal that decision. This decision is unfair and inhumane. Unfair because we see that the judges have tried to be politically correct and have wanted to use Mr Diack as a scapegoat."

4. VARIOUS OF DIACK LEAVING

5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LAWYER OF LAMINE DIACK, WILLIAM BOURDON, SAYING:

"There was a big pressure on the tribunal. It was the one of the first worldwide cases involvingthe main leaders in sport community so we understand there was a big media and political pressure. It's not the first time that a French , German, English judge has difficulty to resist that kind of pressure. Obviously today the tribunal has definitively - in our view - renounced just to rule a decision based on law."

6. 2014 EUROPEAN MARATHON CHAMPION, CHRISTELLE DAUNAY, SPEAKING TO REPORTERS

7. (SOUNDBITE) (French) EUROPEAN MARATHON CHAMPION IN 2014, CHRISTELLE DAUNAY, SAYING:

"You can't see the smile on my face with the mask I'm wearing but I'm very happy to have been recognised as a victim of the corruption by the IAAF leaders and I'm also happy for all the athletes who were... we need to continue the fight against doping, and to have been recognised that this is important for us."

8. VARIOUS OF DIACK AS HE ARRIVED IN COURT BEFORE THE VERDICT WAS HANDED OUT

9. VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF PARIS COURTHOUSE

10. VARIOUS OF POLICE OUTSIDE COURTHOUSE

STORY: Lamine Diack, the former head of world athletics' governing body, was convicted in France on Wednesday (September 16) of corruption in a Russian doping scandal and sentenced to spend at least two years in jail.

Diack, 87, was found guilty of taking bribes from athletes in return for orchestrating the cover up of test results that enabled them to continue competing, including in the 2012 London Olympics.

Diack was also found guilty of accepting Russian money to help finance Macky Sall's 2012 presidential campaign in Senegal, his home country, in exchange for slowing anti-doping procedures, the court ruled.

The court had heard how Diack solicited bribes totalling 3.45 million euros ($4.1 million) from athletes suspected of drugs cheating and paid off other officials at the International Association of Athletics Federations to aid with the cover up.

The presiding judge said the former long-jumper's actions had "undermined the values of athletics and the fight against doping."

The court handed Diack a four-year prison sentence, two years of which are suspended, and imposed the maximum fine of 500,000 euros ($594,000).

Diack's lawyers called the judgment against him unfair and inhumane, and said they would appeal.

One of the civil parties in the case, French marathon runner Christelle Daunay, said she was relieved after jearing the court read out the verdict. Daunay had accused the IAAF of protecting athletes like Russian long-distance runner Liliya Shubukova, who was later suspended for doping. She said the suspension had come too late, and athletes like her were robbed of a podium finish, and the prize money that went with it.

Diack was once one of the most influential men in the sport, leading the IAAF, now known as World Athletics, from 1999 to 2015.

(Production: Yiming Woo, Lucien Libert)