ATHENS (voa) – The International Olympic Committee has suspended a Bulgarian sports official implicated in a corruption scandal involving cities bidding to host the 2012 Olympics.
Ivan Slavkov was secretly videotaped by a BBC television crew discussing how votes could be bought for London’s campaign to host the 2012 Games. IOC President Jacques Rogge said in Athens Saturday that he was angered by Slavkov’s behavior, because it tarnishes the Olympic movement.
However, Rogge said Slavkov was innocent until proven guilty and he would not be expelled from the IOC until the IOC Ethics Commission completes a full investigation and issues its report.
New York, London, Paris, Madrid, and Moscow are bidding to host the Summer games in 2012. The IOC will announce the host city next July.
EU Seeks to Ban Belarus Official from Attending Olympics
The European Union says it wants to ban the minister of sport from Belarus, Yuri Sivakov, from attending the Athens Olympics because of his alleged involvement in human rights abuses.
A statement released in Brussels Friday on behalf of the 25-nation bloc says “the European Union considers the presence of Mr. Sivakov at the upcoming Olympic Games in Athens to be completely inappropriate,” and it called for him to be prevented from attending the games.
The Council of Europe has sharply criticized the human rights situation in Belarus. In April it called for an investigation into the disappearance of a number of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko’s opponents, at a time when Mr. Sivakov was interior minister.
