Senegalese former IAAF president Lamine Diack was charged with corruption on Wednesday, legal sources said.
He was charged in Paris over corruption relating to the International Association of Athletics Federation's anti-doping campaign.
His lawyer, Habib Cisse, was also charged, and a doctor linked with the Federation's anti-doping measures, was being questioned.
Diack, 82, was head of world athletics' governing body from 1999 until August this year when Britain's Sebastian Coe took over the reins.
