PARIS, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- Suspended UEFA president Michel Platini has decided not to attend his hearing before FIFA's ethics committee in Zurich, scheduled for Friday, according to an AFP report on Wednesday.
A statement from Platini's legal team said he chose to boycott the hearing after "the verdict was already announced to the press by a spokesman...going against the presumption of innocence," AFP reported.
Platini and FIFA president Sepp Blatter are serving 90-day bans from all footballing activities after Swiss prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into a 2 million U.S. dollars payment Blatter authorized to Platini in 2011.