IOC Lifts Guy Drut Suspension

(ATR) The International Olympics Committee has lifted its suspension of France's Guy Drut, issuing a reprimand and a ban from chairing IOC commissions for five years.

Drut was suspended in December after receiving a suspended jail sentence and a fine from a French court for phantom employment charges that came from the early 1990's. Late last month, French President Jacques Chirac signed a controversial amnesty for Drut that expunged his criminal conviction, clearing the way for Friday?s decision by the IOC Executive Board.

Drut appeared before the EB, but left IOC headquarters in Lausanne without making any statements.

Denis Oswald, an EB member and also a member of the IOC Judicial Commission, says given that the charges against Drut date from so long ago and prior to the start of his IOC membership in 1996, the resolution of the case is appropriate.

"The amount of time involved is certainly one of the considerations," says Oswald. But he also notes that while the amnesty granted by Chirac has cleared Drut?s record, the fact of his conviction by a French court last year cannot be overlooked.

Under the terms of the IOC sanctions, Drut cannot return to his position as chair of the International Relations Commission or any other IOC commission for five more years.

A case unlike any other that has come before the IOC Ethics Commission, the punishment handed down is also a first. Oswald says this shows how each ethics case handled by the IOC must be treated on its own.

Drut, 55, was the gold medalist in the 110m hurdles in the Montreal Olympics. Since then he has served in a series of political posts in city and regional government in Paris, including a term as French Minister for Sport.

While politicians in France assailed Drut's amnesty as favoritism, the Chirac's office said it was necessary to preserve a seat on the IOC held by a French citizen.