The Albanian athlete and record holder, Izmir Smajlaj, has been declared innocent of manipulating a result that kept him out of competitions for many months. The World Sports Court has found no fault in the athlete from Shkodran, declaring him innocent and giving him the right to return to the track.
The president of the Athletics Federation, Gjergj Ruli, was found guilty of manipulating the result, and was sentenced to 5 years of suspension, as well as the Secretary of the Federation, Nikolin Dionisi, to 4 years.
After the decision, Izmir Smajlaj himself had a reaction on the communication channels today.
"Righteousness never prevails! Innocent! Thanks to a long legal battle with the AIU, the London-based Sport Resolution (or World Court of Sports) has declared my INNOCENT to allegations of cheating in a competition in which I participated. I was convinced that the foreign judges would appreciate the truth and understand that everything that was investigated was wrong and without facts against me, that's why I am very happy and through this post I also communicate my return to the track", writes Smajlaj first .
Afterwards, the Shkodran, who has won several medals for Albania, also thanked those who believed in him from the first day.
"Thanks and gratitude to those who believed in me from the beginning, for the perfect work of defense lawyers Mr. Ermir Beta and Mrs. Romina Zano, official translator Mrs. Etleva Pushi, as well as to my family who endured and experienced unnecessary stress ", says Smajlaj in response.