MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Tuesday, CAS upheld the decision by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) chief to suspend the Russian Paralympic Committee (RPC) from the Rio Games in September, citing the country's alleged failure to comply with the organization’s anti-doping rules.
"It has been said quite openly that IPC had no other means of influencing the state's, as they put it, system of doping violations, other than disqualifying the Russian Paralympic Committee. In other words, the government is to blame, but as far as the state can not be held accountable, we will punish the Russian Paralympic Committee," Karpenko said, in offering an explanation of the logic behind the CAS ruling and earlier decision by IPC, logic he described as "absurd and distorting."
"Given that the media coverage in the West is very negative toward Russia — and all our arbitrators were from the West- I can not exclude [the possibility] that they looked on this situation not only in terms of the law, but also from the standpoint of other motives, including political," the attorney said.
The Russian Paralympians' attorney also stressed that during the process everyone in the legal team was sure the decision would be positive for Russia as Russia's position was well founded while the opponents answered unconvincingly, so, according to him, the final decision was very unexpected.
"We thought it would be a civilized court hearing and not a Nuremberg trial," Karpenko concluded.
The legal team representing Russian Paralympians in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is still working on legal avenues that might enable the Russian team compete in the Paralympic Games due to be held in Rio on September 7-18, with specific proposals due to be announced in the coming days, Alexey Karpenko said.
"We are currently focused on efforts that will see our Paralympians go [to Rio]. We still have [legal] options, which we are currently discussing within our legal team and with the leadership of the Russian Paralympic Committee. We will undertake these steps and announce them in the coming days," Karpenko stated.
Earlier, Karpenko suggested that an appeal may be filled with the Supreme Court of Switzerland, however, according to him that route could take a year or two, thus removing any chances of Russian Paralympians taking part in the upcoming Games in Rio.
