The trial opened Monday of an influential Olympic official accused of forgery in an alleged plot that implicated political rivals in Kuwait in a coup attempt.
Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah has been publicly sidelined as an IOC member and president of the global group of national Olympic bodies, known as ANOC, after he was indicted in November 2018.
The sheikh attended court Monday alongside three of the other four defendants: a Kuwaiti former aide and Geneva-based lawyers from Bulgaria and Ukraine. A fifth defendant, an English lawyer, was not in court.
They face charges relating to arranging an arbitration case in Geneva in 2014 to authenticate video evidence that was allegedly manipulated.
Prosecutors in Geneva — a hub for international arbitration cases — accuse Sheikh Ahmad of being key to staging a false hearing to create the impression that video footage circulating on social media was genuine.
If proven authentic, the video would have implicated a former prime minister of Kuwait, Sheikh Nasser al-Sabah, in financial and political wrongdoing.
Long known as the kingmaker of Olympic elections, Sheikh Ahmad’s influence grew when winning the ANOC leadership election in 2012 and a year later he was an ally helping Thomas Bach win the IOC presidency.
Sheikh Ahmad denied wrongdoing ahead of a trial postponed in February that is now scheduled for seven days at Geneva’s Tribunal Correctionnel.
The verdict of three judges is expected Friday week and the defendants face jail sentences of up to five years.
The trial opened six years after a criminal complaint was filed on behalf of Sheikh Nasser, the former prime minister, and Jassim al-Kharafi, the former speaker of the Kuwaiti parliament, who has since died.
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