Sepp Blatter avoids testifying at start of FIFA fraud trial

By DANIELLA MATAR
AP Sports Writer

BELLINZONA, Switzerland (AP) — Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter was full of smiles before entering the courtroom but later claimed he was bothered by chest pains and unable to testify on the opening day of his criminal trial. Blatter and Michel Platini have been charged with defrauding FIFA. The 86-year-old Blatter was due to be questioned. He told the court “I can’t breathe well. I don’t feel capable at the moment of responding to an interrogation.” The fallout from the case ousted Blatter as president of FIFA and ended Platini’s campaign to succeed him. Prosecutors in Switzerland revealed their investigation in 2015 into a $2 million payment from FIFA to Platini from four years earlier.