Spain court orders Operation Puerto blood bags released

The World Anti-Doping Association (WADA) has welcomed the ruling by a Spanish court that it will be able to examine the “crucial evidence” of around 200 blood bags representing a major doping scandal.

The samples, held in a laboratory in Barcelona since then, had been ordered for destruction in the Spanish courts in 2013 but a U-turn was made on Tuesday by the Madrid Provincial Court.

“The means to the end is to fight against doping, which violates against the essential ethical value of sport, fair play, as it prevents for competition to occur under the same conditions”, Judge Alejandro Maria Benito said in delivering Tuesday’s verdict.

In 2013, a trial judge convicted him of endangering public health for systematically transfusing the blood into athletes to enhance their performance.

They must now be given to the World Anti-Doping Agency, cycling bosses and the Italian Olympic Committee. The statute of limitations for dopers is 10 years but Operation Puerto has passed that.

WADA commended the Madrid Court of Appeal for deciding to release the blood bags. Speaking about it, the WADA President Craig Reedie declared, ‘We will now be speaking to the other parties who appealed in the case to decide how to proceed.

So far only cyclists, including 1997 Tour de France victor Jan Ullrich, have been publicly named as being Fuentes’ clients.

The bags were taken from a clinic of doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, who also suggested they contained samples from athletes in other sports, but that was never followed up. The court said the blood samples couldn’t be considered medication because doping wasn’t illegal under Spanish law at the time of his arrest.

Spanish officials however say no retroactive punitive sanctions can be pursued against any athletes because the statute of limitations has expired.

“Operation Puerto caused horror to our sport and to the image of the country”, Spanish Olympic committee chief Alejandro Blanco said recently. Yeah, so the guy won’t get two years, big deal. As a result, WADA suspended the accreditation of the Madrid drug-testing lab.

Spain faces fresh elections June 26 but the signs are a new government may not be formed for several months.

Fuentes has boasted in the past of treating footballers, tennis players, boxers, athletes and cyclists and while football has remained largely untouched by doping scandals, this could put it in the spotlight.