Acquittals for Sepp Blatter (pictured) and Michel Platini at second instance.
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Listening: Blatter and Platini cleared in corruption case
A Swiss court has confirmed the acquittals of former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and former UEFA president Michel Platini at first instance. It acquitted the two former football officials of all charges.
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Freisprüche für Sepp Blatter und Michel Platini in zweiter Instanz
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The prosecution’s case centred on a payment of CHF2 million ($2.25 million) to Platini for FIFA consultancy work following a verbal contract with Blatter. The evidence supports the statement that this payment was a residual salary, said the court president in his judgement. The Extraordinary Appeals Chamber in Muttenz, canton Basel Country, therefore had doubts about the indictment, which led to an acquittal for the two “in dubio pro reo”.
The federal prosecutor’s office had accused the two of fraud, embezzlement, aiding and abetting and forgery of documents, among other things. Following the acquittals, they lodged an appeal with the Federal Criminal Court in 2022.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
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