Stefan Schumacher is prepared to continue his legal battles to the highest courts. After the decision by the French Conseil d’Etat court to uphold his ban, the German is prepared to go all the way to the European Court of Justice.
His lawyer, Michael Lehner, is with him. “For us, France isn’t the end of the rope. We will use all legal means against the decision, meaning we will go all the way to the European Court of Justice,” Lehner told dpa.
“I think the decision to use a non-approved test analysis is a scandal,” Lehner said. The test for CERA, with which Schumacher was caught in the 2008 Tour de France, wasn’t approved as a test until July 1, 2009. This was a lot of time to improve the test. Schumacher also said that his samples were handled in violation of the anti-doping regulations, sent opened and with his name on it through Europe.
Lehner thinks that since AFLD (French Anti-Doping Agency) is a former judge with the Conseil d’Etat, there is a strong connection between the two.
Since Schumacher was also caught with CERA in the Olympics, he is facing a life-time ban. Next week, his case will be heard in Lausanne by CAS, the Court of Arbitration.
The AFLD has also come under strong criticism from the UCI, the International Cycling Federation. The UCI said that AFLD was doing a sloppy job with its doping controls in this year’s Tour de France, according to Reuters. The UCI claims to have conducted 190 tests at the start of the Tour, compared to 13 of the AFLD. The UCI sent a copy of the letter to WADA, the world anti-doping agency.
Six of the samples supposedly were from Frenchmen who were tested all year already. Five were sent with the full name written on the sample’s container.