Paul Kimmage(Image credit: Gerry McManus/www.splitsecondimages.co.uk)
UCI President Pat McQuaid takes the oath before speaking at the French Senate hearing into anti-doping(Image credit: AFP)
UCI president Hein Verbruggen with Lance Armstrong in 2002(Image credit: AFP Photo)
Paul Kimmage’s legal action against former UCI president Hein Verbruggen and the current incumbent Pat McQuaid has been thrown out by a Swiss court, according to the Insidethegames.biz.
Kimmage told Cyclingnews at the time that he was bringing the case “for everyone who stands up for the truth and anyone who exposed the doping problem in the sport and were treated appallingly by McQuaid and Verbruggen over the last 20 years.”
According to the Inside the Games website, the public prosecutor rejected the criminal investigation early this year, while an appeal lodged by Kimmage in March has now been “dismissed to the extent that is admissible.”
McQuaid and Verbruggen had previously launched defamation proceedings against Kimmage in January 2012, believed to be in response to his criticism of the UCI in an interview with L’Équipe, but the action was suspended in October of last year.
An online campaign to fund Kimmage’s defence last autumn raised almost $100,000 and when McQuaid and Verbruggen’s defamation action was suspended, Kimmage vowed to use the fund to launch the counter-suit against them.
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Following the dismissal of the appeal, Kimmage is now liable for the cost of the appeal proceedings.
McQuaid is running for re-election for a third term as UCI president in Florence next month, although his chances have been jeopardised by the refusal of both the Irish and Swiss cycling federations to nominate him for election.
Speaking to Cyclingnews last week, Verbruggen insisted that he no longer had any active involvement in sports administration.
