LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) The International Skating Union opened hearings into the Olympic figure skating scandal Monday, with the French judge at the center of the dispute complaining she was the victim of an "organized massacre."

The ISU council began the two-day closed hearings amid legal wrangling and the likelihood the case will drag on for some time.

Judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne and French skating boss Didier Gailhaguet were called before the council to answer charges they manipulated the result of the pairs competition at the Salt Lake City Games.

Le Gougne was suspended indefinitely by the ISU for alleged misconduct after initially declaring she was instructed by Gailhaguet to vote for the victorious Russian pair ahead of the Canadians.

Le Gougne later retracted the accusation against Gailhaguet, saying she was in emotional distress at the time and had been harassed by ISU officials into making false claims against him.

Gailhaguet has denied any wrongdoing.

ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta said Monday he hopes the hearings will prevent further scandals and help reform the sport.

"We want to resolve the grave matter of Salt Lake City once and for all," he told The Associated Press. "But we also think the consequences of the hearing can have a positive effect for the whole sport."

Cinquanta said he expects the council to deliver its verdict by Wednesday evening.

Gailhaguet was the first to appear before the hearing.

Before going into the conference room, he was asked whether he felt confident. "As much as can be," he said.

Le Gougne, who was to appear later, said in an interview in Monday's edition of the French sports paper L'Equipe that the case was stacked against her.

"It's a one-way hearing, an organized massacre," she said.

Cinquanta said: "We will give everyone a fair hearing."

At the Salt Lake Games in February, witnesses said Le Gougne broke down during a post-event review meeting and said she had voted for Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze under pressure from Gailhaguet.

The ISU awarded duplicate gold medals to Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier on the premise of Le Gougne's alleged misconduct.

Le Gougne insists she's a "scapegoat" and voted for the Russians in good conscience. In an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" on Sunday, Le Gougne said a male Canadian judge approached her an hour before the pairs event and asked for help with Sale and Pelletier.

Asked what that meant, Le Gougne said, "Help him to have the Canadian couple earn the first place."

She is seeking reinstatement and says she will go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if the ISU rules against her.

Gailhaguet said Sunday he would go to court - possibly the European Court for Human Rights - if he's not cleared.

"We will go to the end to defend our rights and the reputation of our federation," Gailhaguet told the AP.

Gailhaguet, also an ISU Council member, said he was the target of a plot within the world federation led by British and North American interests.

"If you want to kill a dog, you say it has rabies," he said. "But watch out, the dog can turn into a wolf. I will not be done in by Anglo-Saxon lobbying."

Other French judges have come forward in recent weeks to accuse Gailhaguet of pressuring them. One, Gilles Vandenbroeck, told "60 Minutes" he was expelled by the federation when he made his accusations several years ago.

"Probably Marie-Reine, after her first testimony in Salt Lake City thought of cases like mine, and thought, `If I go on attacking Didier Gailhaguet, what am I facing?"' said Vandenbroeck, a judge for 15 years. So it's perfectly understandable that she'd change her mind."

Meanwhile, referee Ron Pfenning and Jon Jackson, a skating judge who testified that he witnessed a confession of vote-fixing by Le Gougne, asked the ISU council to bar U.S. member Claire Ferguson from the hearing.

According to Pfenning and Jackson, Ferguson told them last month at the world championships in Japan that, though she had not yet seen evidence gathered by ISU investigators, she believed Gailhaguet acted the same way dozens of other federation chiefs have in the past.

According to Pfenning and Jackson, Ferguson felt that Le Gougne and Gailhaguet should not be punished or should receive only light penalties.

A brief sent to the ISU by Pfenning's and Jackson's attorney also cites a recent TV interview in which Ferguson said she thought the Russians deserved to win and "it is probably correct that (Le Gougne) judged the way she felt it should be, not the way someone told her it should be."

Cinquanta said the council would discuss Pfenning and Jackson's request.

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