Messrs. Schelstraete and Wawrzyniak of Schelstraete Equine Lawyers, the member of the Alliance of European US Asian Equine Lawyers, successfully filed on behalf Mr Sjef Janssen a complaint before the Fédération Équestre Internationale (the FEI) against Mr Leif Törnblad, a five-star FEI judge, following his interview in the Horse Magazine published in September 2017. In this interview Mr Törnblad adopted negative statement about Mr Sjef Janssen and the Dutch equestrian sport.
Following the argumentation of Schelstraete Equine Lawyers the FEI found Mr Törnblad guilty of a breach of Article 2 of the Codex for FEI Dressage Judges that states:
“A Judge must avoid any actual or perceived conflict of interest. A judge must have a neutral, independent and fair position towards riders, owners, trainers, organizers and other officials and integrate well into a team”.
Leif Törnblad. Foto: Arnd Bronkhorst / www.arnd.nl