MONTREAL – The World Anti-Doping Agency is considering appealing the ruling of a Spanish court which ordered the destruction of evidence in the Operation Puerto trial, despite finding Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes guilty of endangering public health and giving him a one-year suspended jail sentence.
WADA director general David Howman said access to the evidence was what originally motivated WADA’s involvement in the case and the pursuit of sanctions “against the cheats who used Dr. Fuentes’ services” in cycling and other sports.
“The decision to order the destruction of the blood bags is particularly disappointing and unsatisfactory for … the whole anti-doping community,” Howman said in a statement.
He said WADA was reviewing options with its Spanish legal advisers before the May 17 deadline for appeals in the case, and would not make any further comment until that date.
Spanish doctor Fuentes was convicted on Tuesday, barred from medical practice in sports for four years and ordered to pay a $6,000 fine.
Judge Julia Santamaria said more than 100 blood bags seized seven years ago when police raided Fuentes’ clinics in Madrid should be destroyed. That would rule out any possible investigations by officials of WADA and Spain’s national anti-doping body, who have said they want to examine the bags to identify all the athletes involved. Santamaria said Spain’s privacy laws prevented the availability of the blood bags.
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Several prominent cyclists have been identified in the scandal. Fuentes testified he had clients from other sports, including football, tennis, boxing and athletics, but they were not identified.
Ana Munoz, of Spain’s anti-doping agency, earlier said she would appeal the decision to destroy the bags.
“For the Spanish Anti-Doping Agency it is very important to know the whole truth and, with this sentence, we only know a part of the truth.”
“We know the truth that says that Dr. Fuentes is not a good doctor because he did some practices that are very bad for the health of athletes. But, on the other hand, it is necessary to know the names of the athletes,” said Munoz.
The bags contained red blood cells and plasma that Fuentes separated by using sophisticated centrifuges. According to the judge, Fuentes’ practices were aimed purely at improving athletes’ performances, but they also posed a threat to their health.
The judge said Fuentes timed blood extractions and transfusions with athletes’ race calendars, with the aim of improving their results and evading detection in doping controls.
The court also sentenced former cycling team official Ignacio Labarta to four months in jail. It acquitted the other three people on trial: Yolanda Fuentes, Manuel Saiz and Vicente Belda.
Operation Puerto implicated more than 50 cyclists, only a few of whom have been sanctioned for cheating. No cyclists were on trial because doping was not an offence in 2006 when police raided Fuentes’ clinics and laboratories. Spain has since passed anti-doping legislation, with an even stricter anti-doping bill to be voted on by parliament this summer.
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