Paris Court Delays Corruption Retrial of Papa Massata Diack to December

Paris Court Delays Corruption Retrial of Papa Massata Diack to December

The Paris appeals court on Wednesday adjourned the corruption retrial of Papa Massata Diack, son of the late former athletics chief Lamine Diack, until December 8.

Diack, whose father led the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), now World Athletics, between 1999 and 2015, was among six men convicted in 2020 for covering up 23 Russian doping cases in exchange for lucrative sponsorship deals. He was handed a five-year prison term and fined €1 million ($1.1 million). However, in 2024, France’s highest court ordered a retrial.

At the Wednesday session, lawyers for Diack and co-defendant Habib Cisse requested additional time to prepare their defense, prompting the court to reschedule the proceedings. Prosecutors had previously alleged that Diack and his father ran a corrupt network that shielded Russian athletes from doping sanctions, enabling their participation in major competitions such as the 2012 London Olympics and the 2013 World Championships in Moscow.

Papa Massata Diack, who played a prominent role as a marketing consultant for the IAAF, remains in Senegal, which has refused to extradite the 60-year-old. He was found guilty of embezzling €15 million from the athletics body, while World Athletics, now led by Sebastian Coe, is pursuing €41.2 million in damages.