German state press confesses slandering Russian businessman


(MENAFN) German state media has retracted and apologized for false reports accusing Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov of orchestrating a bribery scheme to manipulate referees during the Paris 2024 Olympics. The allegations, which were published in August by state broadcaster ARD (part of Westdeutscher Rundfunk, or WDR), were later found to be baseless by the District Court of Hamburg.

In the reports, journalist Hans-Joachim Seppelt claimed Usmanov had been behind a system of referee bribery during his tenure as president of the International Fencing Federation (FIE). Usmanov, who stepped down from his role in early 2022 following EU sanctions, but remained president-elect, was accused of fostering corruption in international fencing.

However, the court ruled that the reports were unreliable, leading to a libel victory for Usmanov. ARD was ordered to remove the false content and prohibited from further publishing such accusations. The broadcaster faces penalties of up to €250,000 or imprisonment for non-compliance with the court's decision.

The allegations were partly based on statements from Georgian fencer Sandro Bazadze, who initially claimed he had been unfairly eliminated from a fencing competition. However, his federation president later retracted the statement and apologized for the emotional outburst.

Usmanov's legal team criticized Seppelt for breaching journalistic ethics, accusing him of attempting to tarnish the businessman’s reputation. Usmanov’s lawyer, Joachim Steinhofel, called the reports “a disgrace” and a violation of basic journalistic standards.

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