Wednesday 24 January 2018 19:07, UK
Michel Platini has taken his appeal against a ban from soccer to the European Court of Human Rights.
The former UEFA president was banned by the FIFA ethics committee for financial wrongdoing while he was running for president of the world football governing body.
Platini was initially banned for eight years in December 2015. The ethics committee ruled he was not entitled to $2m in backdated salary he was paid in 2011 for working from 1998-2002 as advisor to then-FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
That suspension was cut to six years by the FIFA appeals committee, then to four by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. But the 62-year-old last month took his case to the French-based court in Strasbourg.
"I want justice. I haven't done anything wrong," Platini said in an email to the Associated Press. "I want my integrity to be acknowledged. With this plea to the European Court of Human Rights, I am contesting all of the sanctions from FIFA and CAS. I will not give up."
In July, Switzerland's supreme court dismissed an appeal by the former FIFA vice president against the four-year ban imposed by CAS.
Platini and Blatter claimed they had a verbal agreement over the lump sum but were banned by FIFA for a conflict of interest. The evidence included Blatter's attempt to increase Platini's FIFA pension fund with more than $1m he was not entitled to.
The case removed Platini from the UEFA presidency and the February 2016 FIFA election to succeed Blatter.
"I consider myself to be a victim, not only of an injustice, but also a political conspiracy by FIFA to stop me becoming president of this institution," Platini said. "I was a threat for the positions, the interests and the privileges of many people in FIFA."
Platini, a celebrated midfielder with France and Juventus during his heyday as a player in the 1980s, is suspended until October 2019.
"I am fighting first of all for my honour and against injustice. I want my innocence to be recognised, that's my absolute priority," Platini said. "For the moment I don't know what I'll be doing after October 2019."
