Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dr. Yves Jean-Bart, former long-serving President of the Haitian Football Federation, today was fully exonerated of false claims made against him. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland examined his case and reached the decision to reverse the lifetime ban imposed in 2020 by FIFA, soccer’s international governing body.
Dr. Jean-Bart has always maintained his innocence—and today’s finding comes after he was already fully cleared of wrongdoing by the Haitian judicial system.
Defending his innocence of the anonymous charges and following FIFA’s removal of him from the post he held for two decades, Dr. Jean-Bart appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the international authority and governing body designated to oversee disputed matters related to professional sports leagues. After diligently forming an arbitral panel to thoroughly investigate the claims made against Dr. Jean-Bart, the CAS concluded with a decision to reverse FIFA’s prior decision.
In its ruling in favor of Dr. Jean-Bart, the panel unanimously noted “the lack of consistency and inaccuracies in the statements of the victims and witnesses presented by FIFA” and declared the accusations against him “inconsistent, imprecise, and contradictory.”
“With today’s decision, I have been fully exonerated by the international Court of Arbitration for Sports,” said Dr. Yves Jean-Bart. “Three years after being falsely accused, I have awaited this day when my honor could be fully restored. I am grateful to God, my family, legal counsel, and all of those stood with me through this difficult process while I defended myself against these baseless, maliciously motivated smears.”
Spokesperson for Dr. Jean-Bart, Evan Nierman added: “In today’s cancel culture world, this saga is a powerful reminder of what can happen when organizations rush to judgment without allowing for due process or full investigation of the facts. Numerous international media outlets irresponsibly amplified salacious accusations and anonymous attacks on Dr. Jean-Bart without bothering to properly report the story.”
For press inquiries, please contact Evan Nierman at Evan@Redbanyan.com
