A Russian court has reportedly thrown out two lawsuits against German TV channel ARD after it published a series of damning documentaries alleging widespread doping in Russian athletics. According to the Associated Press, the two lawsuits were filed separately by Valentin Balakhnichev and the Russian Athletics Federation (VLFA). Valentin Balakhnichev resigned as President of the VLFA earlier this year after coming under pressure following the airing of ARD’s documentaries on television, as reported by the Sports Integrity Initiative.

Valentin Balakhnichev, who used to also be Treasurer of the IAAF, reportedly claimed that both his and the VLFA’s ‘honor and dignity’ had been damaged by the films. A lawyer representing both complainants allegedly told a local news agency that he was appealing both rulings. The press agency further said that no reasoning was given and that Balakhnichev had told Russian media he did not know why his case had been thrown out.

The ARD documentary claimed that Russian officials accepted payments from athletes for illegal substances and covered up positive tests. It features former Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) official Vitaly Stepanov and his wife Yulia Stepanova, an 800m runner who was banned for doping, who allege that Russian athletics officials supplied banned substances and colluded with doping officials to cover up positive tests in exchange for 5% of an athlete’s earnings.

The lawsuits were reportedly directed against ARD, the filmmaker Hajo Seppelt and Russian athletics coach Oleg Popov, who appeared in the film. In August, once the second part of ARD’s documentaries had been aired, RUSADA issued a statement declaring that the ‘information which was provided with regard to RUSADA either isn’t true, or speaks about incompetence of authors of this film.’ The anti-doping agency released a further statement claiming that ARD had ignored information supplied by RUSADA on banned substances.