The moment of the launch of The video of Charlotte Dujardin whipping her horse It is “incomprehensible,” according to a lawyer who feeds Team GB Sabotage concerns.
Luc Schelstraete, a Dutch equine lawyer who appears to be a business rival of the whistleblower’s representative, suggests that a two-year delay in raising the alarm could render the case “inadmissible.”
“The manner and timing of this action raise more questions for me than the accusations against Charlotte Dujardin herself,” he wrote in an open letter to the Dutch media.
Stephan Wensing, the complainant’s lawyer, had sent the video to Telegraph Sport and other media on Wednesday, after saying her actions were like The treatment of “an elephant in the circus”He said his client had been warned not to speak in the UK before “finally taking the decision to allow me to admit the complaint to the FEI” on Monday.
Dujardin has not commented specifically on the content of the video, but said the incident took place four years ago. Wensing said the incident took place in 2022.
Now that animal rights activists are using the case to pressure the International Olympic Committee to remove equestrianism from the Olympic calendar, Schelstraete questioned the motives behind the decision to alert authorities.
He referred to Wensing saying that his client “wanted to prevent Charlotte Dujardin from winning medals at the Olympic Games.”
“This statement makes it clear what motivated the anonymous customer to file a complaint,” Schelstraete writes. “When the complaining customer attaches such importance to animal welfare, it is incomprehensible that he would wait so long to file a complaint. Furthermore, he is also required to promptly report alleged cases of horse abuse.”
She then referred to FEI regulations, which state that complaints of suspected cruelty must be reported “without delay”. “This obligation to submit a complaint ‘without delay’ is precisely intended to prevent animal suffering,” she added. “Failure by the reporting client to comply with this reporting obligation within the prescribed period may result in the alleged complaint of horse cruelty against Charlotte Dujardin being declared inadmissible or the sanctions imposed being limited.
“Both the timing of the complaint and the media interviews explaining that a complaint for horse abuse was filed with the aim of depriving Charlotte Dujardin of medals at the next Olympic Games are damaging to the rider.
“But not only the rider in question, but also the British team, the other Olympic participants and the sport of dressage in general. It is clear that all these parties are harmed by the timing of the complaint and by the statements in the media. The British team lacks a protagonist and the other teams are stigmatised for having an interest in the ‘elimination’ of Charlotte Dujardin.”
In the footage, Dujardin can be seen saying “This is shit, hitting them so hard,” in an apparent reference to the 24 blows she gave the animal with her whip. She has been suspended from the sport for six months while investigations are carried out.
