Viktoriya Povzlo, Secretary-General of the Equestrian Federation of Ukraine, has demanded an apology from the FEI for its statement that nationalistic judging has taken place at the 2016 CDI Lier in Belgium on 1 - 6 March 2016.
Povzlo sent an open letter to FEI President Ingmar de Vos and FEI secretary-general Sabrina Ibanez-Zeender, which was also sent to Eurodressage
The Open Letter reads:
On behalf of Ukraine National Federation I address you with an open letter since we have been stunned by the letter of the Secretary General Mrs Sabrina Ibanez issued on Tuesday 22 March 2016 regarding the alleged nationalistic judging at the CDI Event in Lier at the beginning of March and apparent announced sanctions against “two judges from Ukraine”.
As you may appreciate we deeply regret that the Secretary General in her communication regarding to the matter acted in the manner that is not compatible with the Moral Code of the FEI, the Code of Ethics, the Olympic Charter and violates the basic human rights as fair trial etc. Publishing a letter pursuant to which two judges are being said to be accountable for “nationalistic judging” without i.) having heard both individuals; ii.) without formalizing charges against them and iii.) more importantly without proving their guilt, is a misstep of the Secretary General that will have serious consequences not only to Ukraine, Mrs Logutenkova, both judges, CDI in Lier but also to all stakeholders in the dressage sport.
The FEI is obviously the legislator, the executor and the judge when it comes to its own regulations. This is clearly against the separation of powers rule. Until the letter of the Secretary General, the FEI tended to apply checks and balances to its internal process to ensure the correct decision making. The letter of the Secretary General has now proven that her decision was taken unilaterally and randomly. From now it is apparently sufficient that an FEI official has a suspicion of “something being not in accordance with the FEI rules” to impose sanctions on competitors, judges, horses, and events” whatever the truth may be.
During three last weeks right before the deadline of getting points into the Olympic Ranking, throughout the whole world around 10 riders had significantly approved their personal bests, frequently with more than by 5 %. We would like to remind you of the events in Dortmund, Odense, Wellington and last but not least Moscow. The FEI did not address those events even though the results of the judging were similar. Instead, the FEI chooses to select the Event in Lier. Investigating only Lier and the Ukrainian judges is a discriminatory measure given the aforementioned circumstances, no comments in the end were made on the events held by economic and regional superpowers like Germany, the USA, Denmark, and Russia. This selective approach picking a country that is internationally involved in a war with a superpower is clearly discriminatory. This damages the credibility and both of the reputation of the FEI and the reputation of i.) Ukraine in the world, ii.) the National Federation, iii.) the Ukrainian judges and iv.) riders like Mrs. Logutenkova.
We highly demand FEI to revoke this disgraceful decision and publicly apologize to Ukrainians for this discrimination ultimately on Wednesday 30 March 2016, 12:30 CET. Shall such not happen than legal steps shall be taken.
-- Viktoriya Povzlo
Related Links
FEI Removes 2016 CDI Lier GP Special Results from Olympic Ranking List, Ukraine Still Obtains Individual Slot
Logutenkova Wins Big at 2016 CDI Lier, Olympic Race Scandal Fueled
Moscow Madness: The Root of the Root