Eufemiano Fuentes, the doctor at the centre of a high-profile doping storm, has been handed a one-year suspended sentence for endangering public health.
The Spaniard was convicted over his role in supplying blood transfusions to cyclists, a method adopted by the disgraced Lance Armstrong.
Controversially, the court ruled all evidence – including 200 blood bags – should be destroyed. This is a major blow for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), who will appeal the decision in a bid to identify other sportsmen and/or women who may have undergone transfusions.
He was charged under public health laws because doping was not illegal in Spain at the time.
Former Kelme trainer Ignacio Labarta, also declared guilty, was handed a four-month sentence.
Fuentes will face a year in jail, pending an appeal
Tyler Hamilton, a former teammate of Armstrong's at US Postal and who admitted to doping, described Fuentes as "a one-man Wal-Mart servicing what seemed to be half the peloton".
Operación Puerto commenced when police found around 200 bags of frozen blood and plasma when they raided Fuentes' offices in 2006.
The doping doping trial focussed on cycling although Fuentes named athletes who were not cyclists that had used his services. However the judges prevented their names being revealed since Fuentes was charged over public health.
WADA had asked for access to the evidence collected from Fuentes' offices.