MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th September, 2019) Nine Russian athletes have filed lawsuits to defend their honor and dignity after Director General of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) Yuri Ganus accused several athletes of having banned blood transfusions, a statement of the claim, obtained by Sputnik, showed.
In an interview with the French L'Equipe newspaper, which was published earlier in the week, Ganus criticized the leadership of the All-Russia Athletic Federation and accused a number of athletes from Russia's Chuvash Republic of having prohibited blood transfusions under the protection of the regional authorities.
"The text of the article contains information that is not consistent with the facts. In particular, the text says that the athletes were provided with prohibited blood transfusions, while nothing like that took place, and Defendant 1 [Ganus], as the director general of RUSADA, could not have been unaware of that," the statement said.
The athletes demand that Ganus' remarks are recognized as untrue and as a means to discredit their honor, dignity and business reputation. Moreover, they insist that the newspaper should officially retract the publication.
