dThe Association for Assistance to Victims of Doping (DOH) has filed a complaint with the Federal Administrative Court (BVG) accused of failing doping victims “in no other way than federal policy.” The DOH reacted Wednesday to a decision by the BVG. According to its own statement, the court dismissed the appeal of a former canoeist who had received harmful doping substances as part of state doping between the ages of twelve and seventeen during the GDR era and who was severely disabled.
He had applied for rehabilitation under the Administrative Rehabilitation Act (VwRehaG). Recognition is the precondition for state aid. However, the BVG concluded that an essential criterion for the rehabilitation of GDR doping victims was not met. Therefore, the poisoning of the athletes was not “political persecution.” “Arbitrary act in individual cases”. A “selective discrimination measure” is missing.
“It was a factual negotiation, as it should be,” he stated. Michael Lehner, DOH chair and plaintiff's attorney, on Friday, “but I see a big contradiction between the statements at the hearing and the verdict.” According to Lehner, the BVG, like the Potsdam Administrative Court, also saw the grave injustice, but only the “arbitrary act in individual cases” holds true for politically persecuted people. “State doping only had a political objective. The conscious use of substances harmful to health corresponds to conscious discrimination. “Athletes were only a means to a political end.”
“It seems like a change of powers from one side to the other”
In its statement, the chamber called state doping a “serious” violation of the “principle of proportionality” (the justification was not yet available). He apparently saw the applicability of the VwRehaG, but referred to the responsibility of politicians in solving the problem: “It is up to the legislator to decide whether to include the victims of state doping in the GDR in the compensation rules” and in what way. extent. the VWRehaG.
“There was an undercurrent of regret toward our client,” Lehner said in describing the trial in Leipzig, “like: 'Unfortunately we cannot help you.' To me it seems like a change of powers from one side to the other.” The Heidelberger will increasingly address politics with the DOH, as will other supporters.
“There is also good news,” said Jan Plobner, SPD member of the Bundestag: “The court has made it clear that it is up to the legislator to decide whether to include victims in the compensation rules. To this end, the SPD parliamentary group has adopted a clear position in 2023 on the adaptation of the SED injustice correction laws: victims of state-organized doping in high-level sports in the former GDR must be included in the laws of correction of injustices of the SED. . I hope that the Ministry of Justice will act and present a proposal for an amendment.”
Even before Wednesday's sentencing, Evelyn Zupke, federal commissioner for victims of the SED dictatorship in the German Bundestag, complained to the FAZ that if the appeal was rejected an “opportunity would be lost”: “The inequality of existing treatment towards those affected”. . “Anyone who has been a victim of state injustice, such as victims of doping, some of whom were even minors, should be able to count on the support of our state institutions in our democratic constitutional State.” Regarding the SPD initiative, Ms. Zupke turns to the federal government: “At the level of the federal government, the ball is in our court.” The federal commissioner also fears that the federal states in which decisions favorable to victims have recently been made could play a retrograde role in future processes. Regarding the effect of the ruling, Lehner spoke of an increase in “legal confusion.”
In some federal states, doping victims have been rehabilitated and solutions have been found, such as in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, with the help of the state commissioner to reach an agreement with the SED dictatorship. Final rulings remain legally binding. However, in the pending proceedings it is to be hoped that the high court ruling will be taken into account. According to Lehner, this also applies to proceedings before the authorities. He ruled out going to the Federal Constitutional Court, given the two or three years it would take to reach a verdict. Time is running out for severely damaged doping victims: “And they are,” says Lehner, “tired of fighting for many, many years.”