In the blood bag affair, the Munich public prosecutor's office brought charges against alleged mastermind Mark Schmidt from Erfurt and four helpers. As the authority announced on Thursday, they are accused, among other things, of the commercial and, in part, band-level use of banned doping methods or aid. The Erfurt sports doctor is also charged with suspected dangerous bodily harm.
Two of the five suspects have been detained since their arrests in late February and mid-March. Three of them were released in May and June 2019 due to a stay of the arrest warrant, it said.
The Munich authorities, in cooperation with their colleagues in Austria, had an international blood doping network exposed through investigations and a raid at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Seefeld in February. In the course of this, the trail also led to Erfurt.
It is still unclear when the main hearing will take place
The public prosecutor announced that 23 athletes from eight European countries had their blood doped in the course of the affair. In Austria, the Austrian cross-country skier Max Hauke was sentenced to five months in prison by the Innsbruck Regional Court at the end of October.
According to the authority, more than 30 witnesses, including numerous athletes, were named in the 145-page indictment. The proceedings included 54 volumes. It was not clear when a main trial would take place.
The public prosecutor assumes that sports doctor Schmidt has practiced blood doping worldwide "regularly and in an unknown number of cases" since the end of 2011. However, the focus is said to have been in Europe, and above all in Germany and Austria. Schmidt is said to have been particularly active in cycling and winter sports.
Schmidt had several helpers
The accused sports physician, according to the indictment to increase the athletic endurance and performance of his athletes, carried out the withdrawal, exchange and treatment of blood. He also supplied the athletes with growth hormones.
Since 2014, according to the public prosecutor, Schmidt has included a group of people who carried out measures for him as part of autologous blood doping. This included driving services or the transport and storage of parts of the required equipment.
In September 2017, Schmidt is said to have given an athlete a new preparation called erythrocytes in her apartment. The doctor is said to have explained that this product has been sterile and has already been tried on several people. In fact, after half an hour, the athlete developed severe side effects.