Sports doctor Bernd Pansold was convicted and fined by a Berlin court yesterday as the first trial to put former East Germany's systematic doping policy under the spotlight came to an end.

Pansold, the last of six officials of the swimming section of Berlin club SC Dynamo to be judged, was handed a 14,400 marks ($8,587) fine and will have to pay court costs likely to be several times that sum.

Like the others on trial, the 56year-old, who was the club's head doctor, stood accused of having caused bodily harm to young female swimmers by giving them banned drugs in the 1970s and 1980s.

Pansold's attorney, Henry Lange, told reporters outside the courtroom that it was "highly likely" that his client would file for an appeal.

Two of those accused, doctor Dieter Binus and coach Rolf Glaeser, had earlier been convicted by the court and fined.

The other three defendants in the trial which began more than eight months ago - coaches Volker Frischke, Dieter Krause and Dieter Lindemann - saw the cases against them dropped after paying fines.

Under German law a court can decide to drop charges in return for payment of a fine if it believes the case does not justify the time and resources needed to bring it to a verdict.

State prosecutor Ruediger Hillebrand, who had called for the 14,400 marks fine against Pansold, said that the verdict was the most severe levelled against an official under German law because the court calculated the fine as a function of income.

Based on that system, Hillebrand said the penalty was twice as high as that handed to any other official in the probe.

Judge Hansgeorg Braeutigam based his ruling in part on the fact that Pansold had refused to testify on his role or provide the court with more information on the defunct state's systematic doping programme.

"The defendant did not have a word to say to the court, which he is not forced to do, but when he does not he cannot enjoy the advantages that those who testified had," he said.

Christian Paschen, who represented three swimmers who had suffered health problems they attribute to drugs they were given as teenagers, said his clients were pleased that the officials responsible for their care were brought to book. "The severity of the penalties is secondary. What is important is that they were found guilty."

He added that his clients had been disappointed that Pansold and other defendants had refused to testify because they still have unanswered questions about the drugs and the dosages they were given.

Olympic chief Juan Antonio Samaranch said yesterday he hoped to get soccer, cycling and tennis on his side soon to back new plans for common rules on punishing drug cheats.