U.S. cyclist Floyd Landis has been given a suspended prison term of 12 months in a criminal case connected to the 2006 hacking of France's antidoping laboratory.
The incident involved a hacker who uploaded files from the lab's computers. Judges said that although no evidence directly linked Landis and Baker to the hacking, both men benefited from the violation, reports AP.
The Nanterre-based French court, near Paris, gave Landis's former trainer, Arnie Baker, the same sentence in connection with the crime.
The two men’s lawyers’ attempted to prove Landis's innocence in the 2006 case, but were unaware of their origin at the time.
Mr. Landis later confessed to doping. The lawyers said the two men denied any role in the hacking at the antidoping lab, AP reports.
The verdict can be appealed within 10 days, but French prosecutors are expected to drop arrest warrants for Landis and Baker because their prison sentences are suspended.
Alain Quiros, who has admitted hacking into the lab's computers, was also sentenced by the court to six months in prison and a fine of €4,000 ($5,416).
Landis, Baker and Quiros, as well as two other defendants, were ordered to "collectively" pay a total of €75,896 to the French lab in damages and legal expenses, reports AP.
The French lab, the Laboratoire National de Dépistage du Dopage, reported in November, 2006 that someone had broken into its computer systems.
The break-in came just weeks after the lab had accused Landis of doping during the Tour de France that summer, which resulted in him being stripped of his winner’s title, AP reports.
