Sun Yang: Italian judge at centre of CAS hearing ‘mocked swimmer’s mother’ and criticised animal cruelty in China
- Franco Frattini, the former Italian foreign minister, is an animal lover and posted a number of tweets critical of Chinese in 2018 and 2019
- Sun Yang’s eight-year ban for a doping offence was overturned by Switzerland’s highest court and sent back to CAS
The Italian judge at the centre of Sun Yang’s Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) case had posted a number of tweets critical of cruelty to animals in China, describing one person who appeared to mistreat a dog as a “yellow face Chinese monster”.
Franco Frattini, Italy’s former foreign minister, chaired February’s three-member CAS panel that heard the case and then handed the Olympic champion swimmer an eight-year ban.
The Swiss Federal Tribunal has yet to comment on the details of its decision.
Media reports said that during Sun’s hearing in Montreux, Switzerland, Frattini was heard to mock the swimmer’s mother to his fellow judges on the panel.
“A very strong witness, ha ha,” Frattini was heard to say when Sun’s mother was called to give evidence.