Eufemiano Fuentes, the Spanish doctor accused of masterminding one of the biggest doping rings in the sporting world after police found 200 bags of frozen blood and plasma at his office in 2006, has been given a one-year suspended sentence. After seven years of investigation and protracted court case, the suspended sentence was handed down for ‘endangering public health’, as doping was not, at the time, even illegal in Spain; even odder Judge Julia Patricia Santamaria struck Fuentes off as a doctor for four years and fined him a mere 4,650 euros (£4,000). The bags, which were labeled with codenames believed to refer to numerous prominent sports stars including, but not limited to, cyclists were ordered destroyed by the judge, something that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has called ‘disappointing’. Spain’s own anti-doping agency (AEA) plans to contest the court’s ruling, with agency boss Ana Munoz telling BBC Radio 5 live, ‘We do not consider this the end of the process.’
