Swiss court finds in UCI's favour in Landis defamation case

Image 1 of 5

The Est Vaud District Court has found in favour of the UCI in its defamation proceedings against Floyd Landis. The verdict was handed down on September 26 and the written judgement released by the UCI on Wednesday.

The UCI, its current president Pat McQuaid and former president Hein Verbruggen launched the proceedings against Landis in April 2011, after he alleged that the governing body had colluding in covering up a positive test by Lance Armstrong at the 2001 Tour de Suisse. Landis did not present himself before the court.

“The judgement upholds and protects the integrity of the UCI and its Presidents,” read the UCI statement. “False accusations are unacceptable and unlawful and the UCI will continue to defend itself against all such accusations.”

The UCI, McQuaid and Verbruggen have launched a similar defamation case against the journalist and former rider Paul Kimmage. However, unlike Landis, Kimmage is determined to fight the case, which will be heard in Vevey, Switzerland on December 12.

The Est Vaud District Court’s written judgement, by chair Catherine Piguet, “upholds in large part the petition of 29 April 2011 lodged by the Union Cycliste Internationale, Patrick McQuaid and Henricus Verbruggen against Floyd Landis.”

Landis has been ordered to take out advertisements at his own expense publishing the verdict in the Wall Street Journal, L’Équipe, Le Temps, NYVelocity, Cyclingnews, Velonation, Velonews and De Volksrant. He has also been ordered to pay McQuaid and Verbruggen the sum of 10,000 Swiss Frances each, as well as their legal costs.

Article two of the verdict goes into quite specific detail as to what Landis is not allowed to say about the UCI in the future, noting that it is forbidden for him to say that the UCI, McQuaid and Verbruggen “have concealed cases of doping, received money for doing so, have accepted money from Lance Armstrong to conceal a doping case, have protected certain racing cyclists, concealed cases of doping, have engaged in manipulation, particularly of tests and races, have hesitated and delayed publishing the results of a positive test on Alberto Contador, have accepted bribes, are corrupt, are terrorists, have no regard for the rules, load the dice, are fools, do not have a genuine desire to restore discipline to cycling, are full of shit, are clowns, their words are worthless, are liars, are no different to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, or to make any similar other allegations of that kind.”