German director may be denied entry into Russia over film about doping
German journalist Hajo Seppelt, director of a film about doping in Russian track and field athletics, may lose the right to enter Russia if he does not execute the decision of the Basmanny Court of Moscow, according to which he has to compensate the All-Russia Athletic Federation (ARAF) for a lost lawsuit. This was reported to TASS by lawyer Artem Patsev, who represented ARAF at the trial.
Last year, on December 16th, Moscow's Basmanny District Court found that the German television documentary’s claims were untrue, ruling against the German channel ARD’s editors, journalist Hajo Seppelt, athlete Yuliya Stepanova and her husband Vitaly Stepanov. The four were ordered to pay a total of 12,000 rubles ($183) divided among them.
"Neither the Stepanovs, nor the journalist nor his channel have done this yet," Patsev said.
In 2014, ARD released a documentary film entitled The Secrets of Doping: How Russia Makes its Winners, highlighting the alleged systematic use of performance-enhancing drugs by Russian athletes.
On June 9th, ARD released another story about doping in Russia, claiming that Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko was involved in concealing the drug test results of Russian athletes.