Ex-Fifa chief Blatter’s court testimony stopped as 86-year-old has chest pains and ‘trouble breathing’ in fraud trial
THE CORRUPTION trial of ex-Fifa president Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini was sensationally stopped today due to the former suffering chest pains.
Blatter, 86, and French football legend Platini, 68, appeared at the Swiss Federal Criminal Court to face corruption charges which led to their downfall from power.
The duo are being tried over a £1.6million payment in 2011 to Platini but both appeared to be in confident mood as they smiled for the cameras in Bellinzona upon arrival earlier.
However, Blatter began to look frail as he made his way through the masses of reporters outside the court house.
He has recently been suffering health issues and was in a coma following heart surgery 18 months ago, and he soon told judges that he was unable to address the court due to chest pains.
He said: “The pain will come back and I am having difficulty breathing.”
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Blatter had earlier left the court for a break, another concession given to him because of his age, while clutching onto his daughter, Corinne Blatter Andenmatten.
Judges have allowed him to make his testimony on Thursday instead – a day later than planned.
Blatter and Platini’s lawyers had earlier failed to shift the trial to a local court or get Fifa’s civil claim against their former leader and Platini to reclaim the £1.6m.
Platini's lawyer Dominic Nellen had argued that federal prosecutions should be reserved for large, international cases, saying: “This case is being heard in the wrong stadium.”
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However, Fifa were allowed to remain involved as judges dismissed the argument.
The governing body’s lawyer Catherine Hohl-Chirazi said: “It is obvious that Fifa has been damaged. Two million francs was stolen.”
Prosecutors from Switzerland have accused the pair of having, to the detriment of Fifa, illegally obtained the payment, plus social security contributions of 229,126 Swiss Francs, in favour of Platini.
According to the court, Platini “submitted to Fifa in 2011 an allegedly fictitious invoice for a (alleged) debt still existing for his activity as an adviser for Fifa in the years 1998 to 2002.”
The case meant that Blatter was forced to end his 17-year reign as Fifa president in 2015.
And it also finished off any hopes that Platini, who was Uefa president until he was forced to quit in 2016, had of succeeding him.
The trial is expected to last 11 days and the court will sit only until lunchtime each day because of Blatter's health.