Russia disseminates an arrest warrant against the whistleblower Rodtchenkov

Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko Associated Press
Employees of the anti-doping laboratory in Moscow to work

Moscow — The justice Russian has launched an international arrest warrant against the former director of the anti-doping laboratory Moscow Grigory Rodtchenkov, a refugee in the United States, whose revelations have contributed to the scandal for the sport in Russian, it was learnt Thursday at a court in moscow.

“The prosecution has launched an international search against Rodtchenkov,” said Iounona Tsareva, a spokesperson for the court in Basmanny, which ordered his detention, indicating that this decision had been taken on the 21st of September.

It was later reported that the lawyers of Grigory Rodtchenkov had appealed this decision, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.

Startling revelations

Grigory Rodtchenkov was the boss of the anti-doping laboratory in Moscow until November 2015, when the first revelations of the world anti-doping Agency (WADA) on Russia had pushed for the resignation and had led the international athletics Federation (IAAF) to suspend the country from all international competition.

Saying fear for his life after the sudden death of two leaders of the anti-doping laboratory in Moscow in February 2016, Grigory Rodtchenkov was a refugee in the United States, that have not signed any extradition agreement with his own country and where he launched new accusations against the Russian authorities.

It was especially insured in may 2016, in the pages of the New York Times, as dozens of Russian athletes, including 15 olympic medallists, had taken advantage of a doping system organized and supervised by the Russian secret services during the olympic Games in Sochi in 2014. The Kremlin had denounced the ” slander of a defector “.

These revelations had, however, led the AMA in order to a lawyer for the canadian Richard McLaren, a report on doping in Russia, which has concluded that the existence of a ” doping system Status secure “, “to be led, controlled and supervised” by the Russian ministry of Sports.

In June 2016, the investigative Committee of the Russian, head of major criminal cases, had opened an investigation for “abuse of power” against the Grigori Rodtchenkov, a sentence for which he could face up to seven years in prison.

According to the Russian authorities, Grigory Rodtchenkov had acted on his own initiative when he has destroyed thousands of samples of athletes the russians, on the eve of the passage of a commission of investigation of the AMA.

The vice-president of the Committee of inquiry, Ilia Lazoutov, had declared in November 2016 that evidence suggested that Grigori Rodtchenkov had ” used his position for a long time to encourage athletes to dope, including for a material advantage “. The property of Grigori Rodtchenkov in Russia have also been seized.

In an article published Friday by the New York Times, Grigori Rodtchenkov assured him that he had fled Russia because he was afraid for his life and that of his family. “Two days before I ran away, a friend to the government has warned me that Russia was preparing my “suicide” “, he said. “This is a witch hunt, and I am the witch “, has he added to the subject of the prosecution which it is the object in Russia.