The FEI Tribunal has rejected the appeal of Ukrainian judges Maria Dzhumadzuk and Iryna Shulga and the National Federation of Ukraine in the case of nationalistic judging at the 2016 CDI Lier in March. The Tribunal hearing took place on 25 October 2016.
After the CDI Lier, which was a key competition to obtain final Olympic Ranking points, the FEI received complaints/requests from the Polish federation and Portuguese rider Gonçalo Carvalho to look into the scores awarded to the Ukrainian rider Inna Logutenkova. The FEI Dressage Committee was asked to review Lier in order to determine whether or not the events and the competitions were conducted in a fair manner.
At its meeting of 17 March 2016, the FEI Dressage Committee agreed that nationalistic judging in favour of Logutenkova, by two Ukrainian judges, occurred during the Grand Prix Special test of the CDI3* Lier on 2 March 2016. As a consequence, the majority of the Dressage Committee (5 members in favour, 1 member against) decided that the "Fairness Principle" should be applied, and the results of the Grand Prix Special at the CDI3* Lier (2 March 2016) not count towards the Olympic & World Ranking. Furthermore, disciplinary actions were taken against the two Ukrainian judges Mariya Dzhumadzuk and Iryna Shulga for nationalistic judging. They were temporary suspensed for three months.
The Ukrainian Federation as well as the two judges appealed this decision with the FEI Tribunal. The hearing was held on 25 October 2016 and the Tribunal decided that the appeal was admissable but dismissed on the merits. The decision of the FEI was therefore upheld.
"All three parties of this case, namely two Ukrainian judges and (the) Equestrian Federation of Ukraine appealed before the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) against the FEI Tribunal decision," Mykhaylo Parkhomchuk, the chair of the Ukrainian equestrian federation, told Eurodressage.
"The FEI will not be able to comment during this appeal," FEI press officer Ruth Grundy told Eurodressage.
Read the complete Tribunal report here.
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