Three athletes are under investigation after a complaint lodged by a fencing champion regarding an alleged gang rape. The victim is a 17-year-old from the Uzbekistan team. The violence apparently occurred between 4 and 5 August last during a pre-summer retreat in Chianciano Terme (Siena) in which representatives of various Federations participated.
The Siena Prosecutor's Office has registered two of the three athletes involved in the register of suspects, a third is a minor.
The champion's lawyer, Luciano Guidarelli, points the finger: «There is an inertia on the part of the Prosecutor's Office, which did not even activate the red code, and of the Federscherma which did not take any action against the athletes under investigation».
«The girl - he continues -, when she realized what she had suffered, notified her roommate and her mother who immediately arrived in Italy. The Federscherma was notified but we never received any evidence of measures towards the athletes involved or solidarity towards the victim."
Furthermore, adds Guidarelli, "the fact that the suspects were not sanctioned or suspended from their competitive activity made it possible that the young woman met them again during races and other retreats with consequent traumas".
On the case, Federscherma has issued a note in which it writes that it «promptly, and on several occasions, had direct discussions with the investigating judiciary, in order to know the situation and the developments of the investigative activity», and adds that it «also filed the appointment of the FIS to act as a civil party in any proceedings, should it be ordered by ordinary justice". Finally, the Federation specifies that it "immediately activated contacts with the ordinary and sports judiciary".
(Unioneonline/ss)
