ISSF presidential runner Luciano Rossi receives death threats ahead of elections
One week ahead of the ISSF General Assembly in Munich for the election of the new President of the International Shooting Sport Federation, the Italian candidate Luciano Rossi announces to have received threats aimed at forcing him to pull out of the race
ISSF - International Shooting Sport Federation
The well-known website Insidethegames.biz first broke the news last Wednesday: Luciano Rossi – currently Vice-President of ISSF, President of the Italian clay shooting federation (FITAV) and an executive member of the World Forum on Shooting Activities – announced by E-Mail to the International Shooting Sport Federation to have received death threats aimed at forcing him to stand down from his ISSF presidency bid.
More specifically, the authors of these E-Mails have threatened to kill Rossi or kidnap his daughter Fiammetta should Rossi refuse to pull out of the upcoming elections that will designate a new President, Vice Presidents, Secretary General and Administrative Council for the ISSF.
According to Rossi, the threats were sent by E-Mail to him and his daughter Fiammetta in the turn of twenty-four hours, through "sophisticated informatics systems"; a report was filed to the Italian Police, and the threats are considered "credible" by law enforcement.
Luciano Rossi
Back on May 23, 2018, the ethics committee of the ISSF ruled to suspend Rossi for three years and impose a 30.000 euros fine, citing numerous "violations of ethics". Rossi appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, against the decision which would have barred him from running for ISSF President.
Back on September 8th, 2018, CAS decided to partially uphold the ethics committee's ruling against Rossi, "confirming serious violations by Mr. Rossi of his duties of loyalty". The fine was increased to 50.000 euros, but the suspension was decreased from three years to twenty weeks (approximately five months), thus allowing him to continue his ISSF presidency bid against fellow Vice-President and European Shooting Confederation (ESC) President Vladimir Lisin, from Russia.
Back on May 19th, 2018, Lisin had been officially named as a candidate for ISSF President by outgoing Olegario Vázquez Raña from Mexico.
Both Lisin and Vázquez Raña promptly issued a vehement condemnation of the threats received by Rossi. Favourite runner Lisin claims the threats are aimed at disrupting the election and dividing the "sensible people" and the "one family" of the ISSF.
The ISSF elections will be held during the 2018 General Assembly, scheduled to take place at the Hilton Munich Park Hotel on Friday, November 30th, and Saturday, December 1st.
Luciano Rossi, candidate to the 2018 ISSF presidential elections