Lamine Diack, former disputed boss of world athletics, is dead – Liberation

Former world athletics boss Lamine Diack died overnight from Thursday to Friday at the age of 88 in Dakar. He had been convicted of hiding doping cases in Russia.

Former world athletics boss Lamine Diack died overnight from Thursday to Friday at the age of 88 in Dakar. He had returned to Senegal in May, after being detained in France for years for a corruption case. His relatives have not yet specified the cause of his death.

Lamine Diack led the International Athletics Federation (IAAF, 1999-2015). He returned to Senegal in May for the first time since his indictment in 2015. He had been detained in France for years over an alleged corruption case surrounding doping in Russia. Lamine Diack had, in September 2020, been sentenced by French justice to four years in prison, two of which are firm, and a fine of 500,000 euros for corruption and breach of trust. He had appealed against this conviction and the date of a new trial had yet to be set.

Court cases

He was sentenced on September 16, 2020 in Paris, in particular for hiding doping cases in Russia or delaying sanctions against doped Russian athletes in exchange for funding and for promoting sponsorship and broadcasting negotiations with Russia. His indictment in another case, still untried, had prevented him from returning to Senegal. He had had his passport confiscated as part of the judicial review imposed by the judges.

In this second case, Lamine Diack had been indicted since March 27, 2019, still for corruption, within the framework of the attributions of the Olympic Games-2016 in Rio and 2020 in Tokyo, but also in the process of attribution of the Worlds of Beijing athletics in 2015, then the 2017 and 2019 Worlds, for which Qatar was a candidate. The judge in charge of the investigations had, before his return to Senegal in May, lifted his ban on leaving French territory against the payment of a deposit of 500,000 euros corresponding to the fine incurred, and on condition that he continues to meet the court summons.

A renowned Senegalese football club, Jaraaf de Dakar (first division), had sold part of its land assets to pay the deposit. Lamine Diack was twice president of Jaraaf, in the 1970s and 2000s.