Italian lawyer Gian Michele Gentile discussed Lazio’s referral to federal court regarding their Covid-19 testing case in an interview with Italian radio broadcaster Punto Nuovo Sport Show (via La Lazio Siamo Noi) earlier today.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office has set up these accusations against Lazio starting from the assumption that it is a reading, in our opinion wrong, of the protocols that have been issued by the FIGC, the Ministry of Health and UEFA for the conduct of Serie A and the Champions League.
According to the regulations, when carrying out the tests, the laboratory communicates the result of the tests to the Local Health Authority, which in turn communicates it to the club and the interested parties, giving them instructions on how to behave.
According to the hypothesis put forward by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the laboratory had to communicate the results to the team, which in turn had to communicate them to the Local Health Authority.
Starting from here, we have all the tests carried out by the Avellino laboratory that were communicated to the Campania Region and the Lazio Region through a platform and then communicated to the team and the individuals.
He spoke about the various Anti-Covid protocols in place.
In the UEFA protocol it is foreseen that the laboratory that performs the analysis – the only one in Europe – communicates the result to the Region of Tuscany, as far as Italian players are concerned, and if it finds a player from a foreign team who is positive, it does not seek the competent health authority, but communicates it to the club.
If a positive case had been detected in Belgium, the communication would have reached Lazio, which would have had to notify the region. This happened in Italy, so we maintain that the communication to the Region is what is required by the protocols.
At the moment, there is a different interpretation, therefore the Sporting Prosecutor believes he is right and has asked the Sporting Judge for a ruling. As soon as there is a correct analysis of the current legal framework, he’ll realise that we are right.
We had a specific case of three players who had a negative test on the same morning that gave three positive results, Leiva, Strakosha and Immobile were negative according to the Avellino laboratory and positive according to the biomedical campus, we put the three positive players in isolation and sent the results.
At the only European laboratory we asked about the reliability of the tests, the answer was that they are relatively reliable with a margin of error of 10% depending on a number of factors.
Finally, Gentile discussed the various sanctions that Lazio are at risk of receiving.
The sanctions are theoretically heavy, but we have to see in reference to what. Speaking of penalties or relegation, they are aggravated hypotheses.
The regulations of the Public Prosecutor’s Office are a fine, a fine with a warning and a ban, and then possible measures against the club that reach, at most, a penalty of points.
The investigation of the Gazzetta dello Sport? It stems from a complaint by Torino. Political battle against Lotito? According to Lotito himself, there is also this.
I look at it from a legal point of view and before the Court discuss it. I have faith that the Court will deal with the rules.
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