MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/. The organization of the European Olympic Committees (EOC) will remain neutral in a court dispute between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), EOC President Janez Kocijancic said on Tuesday.
Speaking at the EOC Executive Committee’s meeting on Tuesday at the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Switzerland’s Lausanne, Kocijancic said: "Our presence [at CAS] will be legal only, we are not going there to make politics."
"It is in our own interest that justice and the rule of law prevails," the EOC president stated. "The guilty should be punished and the innocent protected."
IOC President Thomas Bach, who was also attending the EOC Executive Committee’s session in Lausanne supported Kocijancic’s statement that politics must be left aside from sports saying "The Olympic Games are not and must never be a platform to advance political or any other divisive ends."
"There are certain rules that need to be respected, disrespecting them is against our values," IOC President Bach said. "Even if some athletes choose not to respect the rules, they should respect their fellow athletes."
The EOC announced in a statement on January 22 that the organization "filed a request for an intervention and subordinately an amicus curiae brief to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the appeal by the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) against the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)."
"The purpose is to ensure that the interests of the National Olympic Committees of Europe and clean athletes in particular are duly considered," according to the EOC statement as of January 22. "Together with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the EOC wants to see a clear and definitive decision on the case so as to have clarity for the future."
A number of Russian sports federations as well as the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and the Russian Paralympic Committee (ROC) sent their notifications to CAS earlier this month expressing their intent to participate as a third party in the WADA-RUSADA dispute.
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- Russian Paralympic Committee notifies CAS of its participation in WADA-RUSADA dispute
- Russian Olympic Committee notifies CAS of its participation in WADA-RUSADA dispute
- ROC will defend interests of Olympic movement in dispute with WADA — head
On December 9, 2019, the WADA Executive Committee (ExCo) approved the recommendations of its Compliance Review Committee (CRC) to revoke the compliance status of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) and to strip Russia of the right to participate in major international sports tournaments, including the Olympics, Paralympics and world championships, for a period of four years.
The WADA ExCo also ruled that Russia must not host, or bid for hosting any major international sports tournament in this four-year period. Russian state officials, as well as the staff of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC), were banned from attending all major international sports tournaments for this four-year period.
The RUSADA Supervisory Board recommended on December 19 the agency’s Founders Council to disagree with WADA’s sanctions against Russian sports and to take this case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland’s Lausanne. On December 27, RUSADA sent an official notification of its disagreement to WADA and the global anti-doping body have turned this case over to the Swiss-based court.