Cristian Tudor Popescu loudly defends Simona Halep. The journalist is outraged that the athlete has not yet been heard in the case in which she is accused of doping, and is convinced that human rights are being violated through these delays. The journalist asks for the intervention of the Romanian government and claims that our player is practically under “preventive arrest”, being provisionally suspended for more than eight months.
Cristian Tudor Popescu, outraged by the Simona Halep case
Cristian Tudor Popescu has criticized Simona Halep many times, but this time he is on her side. The player asked to be tried in an emergency procedure, regarding the allegations of doping with Roxadustat, but so far she has not even been heard. The athlete was supposed to appear before the Sport Resolutions judges on May 28, but the International Tennis Integrity Agency requested another postponement, the third.
“Simona Halep, remanded as far as possible. Simona Halep declares that she learned that on May 28, at the request of the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), her hearing by an independent tribunal will be postponed – for the third time”, Cristian Tudor Popescu wrote on social networks.
“I don’t believe in Western conspiracy theories against Romanians and Romania – I haven’t heard of Russian conspiracy theories. But if it will be like that on May 28, then it’s no longer about Roxadustat, doping, suspension, it’s not even about tennis or the player Simona Halep.
We will be faced with a flagrant violation of a human right, of a citizen of a European Union country – the right to justice”, continued the journalist for Fanatik.
Cristian Tudor Popescu asks for the intervention of the Romanian government
ITIA officials explained that they requested this latest postponement because they wanted the athlete to be heard only once for the two cases in which she is involved. In the first she is accused of doping, and in the second it is about certain irregularities in her biological passport.
“Simone Halep has been denied access to the Act of Justice for months. It’s as if she is under preventive arrest, indefinitely, without a court order, at the gate of the performance tennis court.
Practically, ITIA replaces the court, subjecting Simona Halep to the execution of the sentence by eternalizing the provisional suspension”, explained Cristian Tudor Popescu.
The journalist believes that Simona Halep should be helped to defend herself and believes that the Romanian government should intervene in this matter.
“In this situation, I think the intervention of the Romanian government is required. Which must defend the rights of its citizens abroad, addressing the international institutions of Justice – the European Court of Human Rights, for example”, the well-known journalist also said.
The Romanian sportswoman’s hearing was postponed until June, and Patrick Mouratoglou declared that he did not understand this decision. The coach explained to the fans on social networks how the nutritional supplements used by the Romanian athlete were accidentally contaminated with Roxadustat.
The tennis player was provisionally suspended on October 7, 2022, but played her last match at the end of August, when she lost in the first round at the US Open.
