Alisher Usmanov won a lawsuit against the German TV channel ARD – Kommersant

The Hamburg Regional Court recognized as libel the statements made on the air of the German television channel ARD that businessman Alisher Usmanov created a “system of bribing judges” of the fencing tournament at the Olympics in Paris. The court prohibited the TV channel from distributing such materials under threat of administrative arrest or a fine of up to €250 thousand for each violation. Mr. Usmanov led the International Fencing Federation (FIE) from 2008 to 2022 and voluntarily suspended his presidential powers due to EU sanctions.

Accusations against the businessman were made in the reports of journalist Hajo Seppelt. He became famous for his scandalous sports investigations, including those about doping in Russian sports. The journalist claimed that Alisher Usmanov allegedly introduced a “system of bribing judges” into the sport of fencing, forcing them through bribes or under pressure to ensure victory for the right athletes. The journalist’s entire investigation was based on the stories of a retired FIE judge and on the episode with the fight of the Georgian saber fencer Sandro Bazadze in the 1/8 finals of the Olympic tournament, in which he lost to the Egyptian Mohamed Amer. Then Bazadze said that he lost due to dishonest refereeing. Later, his father, President of the Georgian Fencing Federation Merab Bazadze, made an official apology to the FIE and explained the fencer’s words as an emotional breakdown. And the current leadership of the federation stated that the retired judge had not previously qualified and was excluded from the list of judges by the panel of FIE judges.

The German online publication Sport1.de and the Austrian newspaper Krone.at republished accusations against Mr. Usmanov. However, they changed their publications at the request of the businessman’s lawyers. ARD refused to correct the false statements, after which Alisher Usmanov filed a lawsuit.

The press service of Mr. Usmanov emphasized that a number of European media have already admitted that they cannot prove their own allegations regarding the businessman. Therefore, we signed written obligations to stop distributing them.

Read more about this court decision today on the Kommersant website.