[B1TV] Window-Dressing Justice and Enforced Silence: A SLAPP Case to the Rhythm of Gymnastics

On April 6, 2025, B1TV publishes the following:

(The original article can be viewed HERE.)

In a functioning democracy, critical voices should not be silenced by the weight of legal budgets. And yet, that is exactly what seems to have happened recently in the seemingly graceful world of Romanian rhythmic gymnastics.

The Romanian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation, led by Ms. Irina Deleanu since 2002, hired a famous and costly law firm to challenge and block in court the establishment of an NGO aimed at defending athletes’ rights. We are referring here to the Romanian Association for the Defense of Athletes’ Rights – United Europe. In other words, precisely what a sports federation should, under normal circumstances, protect and encourage.

This action bears a striking resemblance to SLAPP tactics – Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation – legal actions not meant to be won on their merits, but rather to intimidate, discourage, and silence uncomfortable initiatives. In other words, a lawsuit intended more to drain the nerves and resources of those who dare to criticize or organize than to correct an actual illegality.

The irony? You can ban an NGO on paper, but you cannot ban the idea that gave birth to it. You can’t sue away the right to civic initiative, no matter how expensive your lawyers’ fees are.

Blocking an NGO is like thinking that if you break the microphone, people will have nothing left to say. In fact, they do.

When an institution that should protect athletes uses the courts as mats to cushion criticism, the question is no longer who is right, but who is most afraid of being questioned.

It should come as no surprise that, in the local sports landscape, there is no functioning association to defend the rights of athletes and coaches. Most likely, such NGOs—civil society voices—have been blocked over time because they threatened to disturb certain interests and to poke their noses where no one has dared before.

But essentially, the problem is that this platform, ARADS, which is currently part of the NGO Atelierul de Soluții (“The Solutions Workshop”), dared to expose a series of abuses that have marked Romanian rhythmic gymnastics over the past decades. And now comes the “punishment.”

These abuses and the actions taken by ARADS were also discussed on the B1TV show Check Media on March 2, with the participation of Senator Ștefan Pălărie, State Secretary Cristian Jura, and Mr. Bobby Păunescu.