Athletics –
The ECHR condemns Switzerland in the Semenya case
The private competition athlete because she refuses to lower her testosterone levels was not entitled to a fair trial, decided on Thursday the European Court of Human Rights.
The ECHR, however, declared inadmissible the grievances of Caster Semenya, who considered herself a victim of discrimination (archive image).
AFP / Phill Magakoe
The South African athlete Caster of the cementdeprived of competition since 2018 because it refuses to lower its testosterone rate, was not entitled to a fair trial, decided Thursday the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
If it condemned Switzerland to violate the right to a fair trial in its Grand Chamber judgment, the Court, on the other hand, declared inadmissible the grievances of Caster Semenya, which denounced violations of its rights to respect for privacy and an effective appeal, and considered itself a victim of discrimination.
Switzerland will have to pay 75,000 francs to Semenya
At first instance, the ECHR had in the summer of 2023 granted its request. But the large chamber, a sort of appeal body seized by the Swiss authorities supported by World Athleticssaid Thursday that the court was not competent to decide. On the other hand, she granted the request of the double Olympic champion concerning the right to a fair trial.
Respect for this right to a fair trial, protected by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights, “required a particularly rigorous examination of its cause”.
However, the Court considered that this had not been the case of the examination made by the Swiss Federal Court previously seized by Caster Semenya to challenge the sentence of the Arbitral Tribunal of Sport (TAS), said Matthias Guyomar, president of the ECHR, by reading the Grand Chamber judgment, whose decision is final.
Switzerland must pay 80,000 euros to Caster Semenya (around 75,000 francs) for costs and costs.
Private Hyperandrogen Athlete for Competition
“It is a positive result”, “a reminder to managers that priorities are the protection of athletes,” reacted the double Olympic champion of the 800 meters.
Deprived of competition since 2018, Caster Semenya which naturally produces many male hormones (androgens) likely to increase muscle mass and improve performance, fights against World Athletics regulation imposing on hyperandrogen athletes to lower their testosterone rate by hormone treatment to be able to participate in international competition.
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