The curtain falls on this. The International Fencing Federation (FIE) announced in a press release that the German channel ARDwill not appeal the decision of its country's courts to ban the broadcast of allegations concerning a " referee corruption system" within the instance. The start of the case dates back to August 4, 2024, the date of the broadcast by ARD of a report accusing the FIE of maintaining a " referee corruption system" and explaining that the elected president of the body, Alisher Usmanov, was behind it. The Russian billionaire, forced in March 2022 to resign from his position at the head of the FIE, filed a complaint with the Hamburg Regional Court in order to obtain an injunction against WDR, a member of the ARD consortium. Last September, the allegations contained in the report were banned by a decision of this court, which considered that it was a " unacceptable reporting based on suspicion". The audiovisual group could have contested the decision. It preferred to submit to it. The report has now been deleted.
