MOSCOW (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko — On Wednesday, the US Department of Justice indicted 14 people, including nine FIFA officials, with racketeering and money laundering. Seven of the defendants were arrested in Zurich at the request of US authorities.
"FIFA is a Swiss-based private institution; therefore if a trial will be commenced against FIFA as an institution and towards its executives in regards of their offices and charge, I personally reckon that the lawsuit should be celebrated in Switzerland and with application of Swiss law," prominent international sports lawyer and director of Italy’s Centro Studi Diritto Sport and Sports Law Research Center Lucio Colantuoni told Sputnik.
Anatoly Peskov, a member of the Board of Directors of International Association of Sports Law, told Sputnik on Thursday that the US actions in FIFA case were "doubtful," as Washington had decided to hold numerous nationals of foreign countries accountable without an agreement from FIFA or any other nations.
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the US-initiated arrests an attempt to spread US jurisdiction abroad.
