Prosecutor calls for suspended sentence for Blatter, Platini

Bellinzona (Switzerland) (AFP) – The Swiss prosecutor’s office on Wednesday demanded an 18-month suspended jail sentence for Michel Platini and ex-president of FIFA Sepp Blatter, accusing them of fraud.

Blatter and Platini are being tried over a two-million-Swiss-franc payment in 2011 to the former France captain, who by that time was in charge of European football’s governing body UEFA.

The trial, which opened last week in the southern city of Bellinzona, follows an investigation that began in 2015 and lasted six years.

The Federal Criminal Court of Bellinzona will deliver its decision on July 8.

Platini was employed as an adviser to Blatter between 1998 and 2002. They signed a contract in 1999 for an annual remuneration of 300,000 Swiss francs, which was paid in full by FIFA.

Platini, 66, is regarded among world football’s greatest-ever players. He won the Ballon d’Or, considered the most prestigious individual award, three times in the mid-1980s.

Blatter, now 86, joined FIFA in 1975 and became the president of world football’s governing body in 1998.