By Mark Duell From Daily Mail UK
Colleagues had been staying at Baur au Lac lakeside hotel in Zurich
But all seven of them are now sleeping on bunk beds in several jails
Justice officials insist men are ‘being treated like ordinary detainees’
Face 20 years if convicted and are resisting US extradition attempts
At their oak-panelled Baur au Lac lakeside hotel in Zurich, they could find spacious kingsize beds in luxurious rooms costing more than £400.
But the seven FIFA officials arrested on corruption charges are now experiencing a rather different life – being held in jails in the Swiss capital where they are sleeping on prison bunk beds.
FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb and his colleagues – who face 20 years in prison if convicted – are also allowed to spend an hour in the exercise yard and served food on trays three times a day.
The men – from North America, South America and the Caribbean – are ‘being treated like all other ordinary detainees’, a spokesman for Switzerland’s Federal Office of Justice told The Times.
They have been banned from communicating between themselves or with anyone else from FIFA – although they are being visited by lawyers and other associates, reported the newspaper.
The men have declined a voluntary flight to face charges in New York, and could be in their cells for weeks as they fight extradition – with the US allowed 40 days to lay out its case in Switzerland.
Several of the officials have allegedly requested bail on health grounds – saying they are too old and not fit enough to remain in detention, Swiss newspaper TagesAnzeiger reported on Saturday.
The seven men – who also include the head of Costa Rica’s football federation, Eduardo Li – are being held at undisclosed detention centres in the canton of Zurich.
Last Thursday former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner was freed from jail in an ambulance suffering from apparent exhaustion – before being seen partying with political allies hours later.
The 72-year-old claimed last week that he was too ill to face reporters outside the jail in Trinidad where he was being held on eight charges in the FBI corruption case. He said he was innocent.
Meanwhile, FIFA president Sepp Blatter – invigorated by his election win last Friday – dismissed any suggestion today that the US investigation could yet lead to his door.
US attorney general Loretta Lynch said last week that indicted FIFA and marketing officials had ‘corrupted the business of worldwide soccer to serve their interests and to enrich themselves’.
She claimed the US federal case is just at the beginning, with 14 men indicted and four more making guilty pleas, including American former FIFA executive committee member Chuck Blazer.
Seven FIFA officials were detained and accused of racketeering, money laundering and fraud in connection with bribes linked to tournament television rights in North and South America.
Mr Blatter, 79, suggested the US Department of Justice went too far in its actions which brought a torrent of condemnation down on 111-year-old FIFA, which he has led for 17 years.
A separate Swiss federal investigation is also under way into possible financial corruption during the 2018-2022 bidding contests. Russian and Qatari bid officials have always denied wrongdoing.
Culture Secretary John Whittingdale said today that the Government and the Football Association have agreed not to rule out any options in the battle against alleged corruption in FIFA.
IMAGES:
Behind bars: The remand prison in the town of Dielsdorf, Switzerland. The seven officials arrested last week on corruption charges in the probe linked to FIFA are in prisons in several towns in the canton of Zurich
Another jail: The expulsion prison at Zurich Airport in Kloten. The men have been banned from communicating between themselves or with anyone else from FIFA
Elsewhere: The district court and the remand prison (right) in the town of Pfaeffikon in the canton of Zurich
Process: The remand prison in the town of Winterthur in the canton of Zurich. The men have declined a voluntary flight to face charges in New York, and could be in their cells for weeks as they fight extradition
Another prison: The Limmattal remand prison in the town of Dietikon in the canton of Zurich, pictured today
Former residence: A police van drives past the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich, where the FIFA officials were staying. It is a luxurious oak-panelled hotel with spacious kingsize beds in rooms costing more than £400
For more on this story go to: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3106243/Three-meals-trays-day-hour-exercise-hard-bunk-sleep-Inside-Swiss-prisons-holding-FIFA-suspects.html#ixzz3bvG6cqzB