Elite Law’s team assisted the International Chess Federation (FIDE) against one of its prominent members who had repeatedly misused its social platforms to channel political messages that had caused several media controversies.
In the course of the lawsuit, we were able to prove that these messages had been issued by the athlete in his capacity as a member of the association and not as a private citizen, had crossed the threshold of the right to freedom of speech and expression, and that, given their echo and the vastness of the audience they had reached, had brought the entire sport of chess into disrepute.
For this reason, the athlete was sanctioned with a six (6) month ban from all sporting competitions, which did not allow him to participate in one of the most important tournaments of the year and which, on appeal, was considered fair and not disproportionate given the seriousness of the violation perpetrated.
