By Peter Omopo
3rd September 2025
A Paris appeals court on Wednesday postponed until December the corruption retrial of Papa Massata Diack, son of the late former president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), Lamine Diack.
Papa Massata Diack, 60, was one of six men convicted in 2020 over a scheme to cover up 23 Russian doping offences in exchange for lucrative sponsorship contracts. He was initially sentenced to five years in prison and fined €1 million.
However, France’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, partially annulled his conviction in November 2024, paving the way for a new trial at the Paris appeals court.
At Wednesday’s hearing, lawyers for Diack and fellow defendant Habib Cissé, a former IAAF legal advisor, requested more time to prepare their defence. The court granted the request and rescheduled the trial for December 8.
Prosecutors previously alleged that Diack, widely known as PMD, and his father orchestrated a corrupt system within the IAAF that delayed or suppressed sanctions against Russian athletes who tested positive for banned substances.
The cover-up allowed Russian athletes to participate in the 2012 London Olympics and the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, while Russian sponsors renewed their contracts with the IAAF.
Diack, who worked as a marketing consultant for the federation, was also found guilty of embezzling €15 million from IAAF funds. He remains in Senegal, which has refused to extradite him.
World Athletics, now led by former Olympic champion Sebastian Coe, is seeking €41.2 million in damages from the case.
