Lazio got away with a light punishment in the trial related to the violations of the COVID-19 regulations. The club received a €150K fine, but no penalization points, president Claudio Lotito was suspended for seven months, doctors Fabio Roda and Ivo Pulcini for a year. The judge deposited the motivations behind the sentence today, Gazzetta dello Sport reports.
According to the document, the club failed to promptly inform the local health officials of the cases inside the squad. Moreover, it was obliged to follow the protocols even without receiving direct orders. As a result, the players that were found to have contracted Coronavirus had to be isolated immediately. The team sustained the lab that carried out the tests should have relayed the results to the authorities.
Lotito received an inferior sanction because the medical staff, and not him, were directly responsible for the omissions. Still, he should have made sure his employees followed the guidelines more strictly. Had he been disqualified for more months, he would have had to abandon his roles within the League and the Federation.
The courtroom considered “paradoxical” the case related to Ciro Immobile, who tested positive on October 26th but was allowed to play, without any authorization, versus Torino following two negative swabs that were illegitimate. He was still positive at a proper exam ahead of the ensuing Champions League tilt against Zenit.
Both the federal prosecutor, who asked for longer bans, and Lazio lawyers have filed for an appeal. The sentence is widely believed to have set a precedent for low sanctions in case of future infringements of the pandemic-related protocols.