Operation bloodletting: doctor makes extensive confession in doping process

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Peter Kneffel / dpa

The physician Mark Schmidt, as the main defendant in the blood doping trial, has made a comprehensive confession and has admitted manipulation since 2012.

In a statement read out by his lawyers, the Erfurt resident admitted on Tuesday that from that year on, he had mainly looked after winter sports enthusiasts and cyclists.

However, Mark Schmidt underlined that it was not about money, but that he had only worked to cover costs.

"I have not made a profit with doping," the statement said.

He also contradicted the allegation that the treatments put the athletes at risk.

"It was always important to me that the athletes were not harmed to their health."

The Munich public prosecutor's office accuses the 42-year-old doctor of nearly 150 offenses.

Mark Schmidt.

admitted most of the acts, but also contradicted a good dozen of the listed cases.

In the first two weeks of the trial, two helpers from Mark Schmidt - the nurse Diana S. and the paramedic Sven M. - testified and confirmed the results of the investigations in the so-called "Aderlass Operation".

The Erfurt doctor had asked them to take blood from athletes at various locations and give them to them.

The doctor himself confirmed this. Mark Schmidt's father, as another defendant, had sent a message that he knew about his son's machinations.

Only the fifth defendant in the proceedings, the building contractor Dirk Q., has not yet commented.

He has been in custody alongside Mark Schmidt since the beginning of 2019 because, according to the public prosecutor, he also took blood from athletes and injected it again, including during the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

At the beginning of the trial, his attorney had asked for the case to be terminated because of alleged several wrongdoings.

In the largest German doping process for years, a total of 26 days of hearing are scheduled, and a verdict is expected shortly before Christmas.

The investigations had started in January 2019 after an ARD documentary and statements by the Austrian cross-country skier Johannes Dürr.

On February 27, there were two raids, one during the Nordic World Ski Championships in Seefeld and at the same time one in Erfurt, during which Mark Schmidt was arrested.

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