SOCCER: Italy's most famous football club, Juventus, yesterday took the stand in a potentially ground-breaking trial in Turin in which the "Old Lady" of Italian soccer stands accused of systematic doping practises.
Managing director Antonio Giraudo and club doctor Ricardo Agricola are charged with having supplied pharmaceutical products, including the infamous creatine, to club players in the period between July 1994 and September 1998 with a view to improving team performances.Yesterday's court hearing is the result of a three-year inquiry carried out by the Turin-based public prosecutor, Raffaele Guariniello, who in turn was prompted to look into the question of doping practises in Italian football by a controversial accusation launched by former AS Roma and Lazio coach, Zdenek Zeman, in July 1998.
Speaking in the immediate aftermath of the EPO-dominated 1998 Tour de France, during which French team Festina were kicked out of the race, Zeman told Italian weekly, L'Espresso that doping practises were also widespread in Italian soccer.
In particular, Zeman pointed an accusatory finger at Juventus, suggesting that certain players, including club idols Gianluca Vialli and Alessandro Del Piero, had both made inexplicable physiological progress.
It is believed that prosecutor Guariniello will argue that, while all the drugs used by Juventus were legal, they were used in such quantities and combinations that they functioned as illicit stimulants.
The prosecution has presented a witness list that reads likes a Who's Who of modern soccer, featuring Roberto Baggio, Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Didier Deschamps and Christian Vieri as well as Del Piero and Vialli. Also included are Juventus coaches past and present, Giovanni Trapattoni and Marcello Lippi.
Juventus have indicated that they will try to limit the number of famous footballers called to testify, hoping to persuade the court to accept statements already made to prosecutor Guariniello by the players. Juventus are also keen that current team members be exempted from further testimony, arguing that involvement in such a high profile and lengthy case will damage the club's Champions League and Serie A campaigns.
Juventus, rather than call on footballer witnesses, intend to base their defence heavily on the evidence of medical and scientific experts.
Explaining the club's defensive strategy, Juventus lawyer Luigi Chiappero said yesterday: "This will be a very technical trial. It's not that we deny using all the medicinal products that the prosecution charges. On the contrary, we admit nearly all of them but we deny vehemently that we used them for doping purposes. And we intend to demonstrate that with the help of expert witnesses."
At yesterday's first hearing, however, Juventus appeared to suffer a setback when a defence request for an immediate dismissal of the charges on the grounds that Juventus were "victims of a biased investigation" was rejected.
Senior Juventus lawyer Vittorio Chiusano, who is also the club president, also argued that it was impossible to mount a detailed defence since no specific games were named in the charges. The court also rejected this request, ruling that the charges were "clear and precise".
It is believed that the prosecution's case will be based on legislation regarding health regulations on the work site and also on a 2001 law which makes "sporting fraud" (ie doping or any other form of cheating in organised sport) a state crime.
In relation to that 2001 legislation, Juventus lawyer Chiusano cited a recent Bologna court case ruling in which cyclist Marco Pantani was acquitted of "sporting fraud" since the court argued that at the time he had committed the alleged offences (EPO doping in the mid-1990s) the "sporting fraud" legislation was not on the Italian statute book.
Given the size of prosecutor Guariniello's investigation, contained in more than 20,000 pages of evidence, and given the number of witness, this trial is likely to prove very lengthy.
