LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The International Skating Union concluded testimony Tuesday in the Olympic figure skating scandal, with a French judge and federation chief complaining the hearings were manipulated to find them guilty.

The ISU council began deliberations and was expected to announce its verdicts later Tuesday on whether judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne threw her vote to the Russians in the pairs competition under pressure from federation president Didier Gailhaguet.

"The rights of the defense were totally ignored," said Le Gougne, waiting in a hotel lobby for the ruling. "I was the scapegoat from the start."

Gailhaguet agreed.

"There were just an enormous amount of witness accounts" against him and Le Gougne, he said. "It was the word of one against another. Proof is extremely weak. There is no proof."

Le Gougne's lawyer, Max Miller, called the two days of hearings "a farce," saying the defense had to pay for bringing in its own witnesses and that the ISU only brought in witnesses from one side.

The council heard testimony Tuesday from two judges who have accused Le Gougne and Gailhaguet of improprieties. They also heard Gailhaguet's Olympic chauffeur, who said he overheard suspicious conversations.

With its ruling Tuesday, the ISU wants to bury the biggest scandal in Winter Olympic history, two months after suspending Le Gougne for misconduct and awarding a unique second gold to the Canadian pair of Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, who had lost in a 5-4 decision.

If the decision goes against them, Le Gougne and Gailhaguet have said they will appeal. If the ISU exonerates the French judge, the decision would raise the question of why Sale and Pelletier received a second gold medal.

Gailhaguet's lawyer, Alexander Brabant, said ISU investigator Gerhardt Bubnik compromised his impartiality Tuesday by acting "both as a prosecutor and a member of the jury."

"It is absolutely unacceptable," Brabant said.

Brabant said the hearings would have been more fair if the defense had been able to pay for witnesses' travel costs.

"We don't have the money for that," Brabant said.

Consequently, the defense brought in only one witness, French figure skating judge Anne Hardy-Thomas.

Le Gougne denied she threw her vote to Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze at the expense of the Canadians in the Olympic pairs competition. After she admitted that Gailhaguet pressured her to do so, she quickly retracted the admission, arguing she did so in a moment of emotional distress. Gailhaguet also denied any wrongdoing.

The charges against the French officials were that the French judge would back the Russians in return for Russian support for the French ice dancing couple. Both sides have denied the existence of such a deal.

Le Gougne said Tuesday she would accept it if the ISU gave her a suspension of a few months because she briefly accused Gailhaguet. "It would be normal if I get a couple of months of suspension," she said.

She accused Britain's Sally Stapleford, head of the ISU's technical committee, of lobbying for several months for her to vote for the Canadian couple. "I was manipulated by Sally Stapleford," she said.

"Absolute nonsense," Stapleford said.

The defense lawyers said the appearances of 13 witnesses in two days of hearings only reinforced their view that the ISU hearing was unfair.

This was the first time accusers and defendants came face to face since Salt Lake City.

On Tuesday, Olympic volunteer Bruce Edwards testified about conversations he heard Gailhaguet having as he drove him to and from Olympic venues. He reportedly overheard Gailhaguet speaking with Russian officials about the Olympic competition.

"I don't know who he was talking to," said Edwards, 23, of Diamond Bar, Calif.

Gailhaguet has said the discussions were with a Russian adviser to a French ice dancing couple and a Russian coach who was considering to leave her country. He also disputed the validity of private conversations as evidence.

During the final day of testimony, the ISU panel also heard from French judge Alain Miquel, who has accused Gailhaguet of trying to instruct him how to vote in the past.

Le Gougne and Gailhaguet appeared separately at a 3{-hour morning session Monday to state their defense and answer questions from ISU investigators.

During a 5½-hour afternoon meeting, both were in the room as the council heard from eight witnesses, most of them having made statements against the French pair.

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 said. "But we also think the consequences of the hearing can have a positive effect for the whole sport."