German blood doping doctor sentenced to jail
The first large-scale criminal trial since Germany introduced anti-doping legislation in 2015 has resulted in a prison term for a doctor from Erfurt.
Mark S. said he was trying to protect the athletes he worked with and never thought he could end up in prison
A court in Munich on Friday sentenced a German doctor at the center of an international blood-doping scandalto 4 years 10 months in prison.
Dr. Mark S. was also given an additional ban from practicing medicine for a further three years after being found guilty of masterminding the doping ring between 2012 and 2019.
German doctor Mark Schmidt was convicted and sentenced to four years and 10 months in prison on Friday for his role as head of an international blood doping ring uncovered in the Operation Aderlass criminal investigation.
German doctor Schmidt jailed for role in blood doping scandal Friday, 15 January 2021
German doctor Mark Schmidt has been jailed for four years and eight months for running an international blood doping ring.
Schmidt had been on trial in Munich alongside four co-defendants.
He was found guilty of 24 counts of using doping methods and a further two counts of prohibited use of drugs,
Agence France-Presse reported.
Schmidt received an additional three-year ban from practicing medicine, as well as a fine of €158,000 (£140,000/$191,000).
Prosecutors had requested a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence, with an additional five-year ban from practicing medicine.
Two of Schmidt’s co-defendants were handed suspended sentences of two years, four months and one year, four months.
Head of blood doping ring Mark Schmidt convicted, sentenced to prison
MUNICH German doctor Mark Schmidt was convicted and sentenced to four years and 10 months in prison on Friday for his role as head of an international blood doping ring uncovered in the Operation Aderlass criminal investigation.
The Munich regional court also banned the 42-year-old Schmidt from working for three years and convicted four accomplices, who received lesser sentences.
The court considered it proven that Schmidt treated winter-sports athletes and cyclists with blood doping for years. In one case, he administered a preparation to an Austrian mountain biker that was not approved for human use, leading to a conviction for dangerous bodily harm.
German doctor Mark Schmidt faces a potential five-and-a-half-year
prison sentence when a court rules on his involvement in an alleged
international blood doping ring tomorrow.