Background
Ionel Dălban was a Romanian journalist. He ran a local weekly magazine, Cronica Romaşcană, which he used to publish an article about an alleged fraud carried out by a Senator and a head of a public company. Ionel was convicted of libel, fined and given a prison sentence. Many newspapers described this as an attempt to intimidate the press.
Laws from the communist era continued to restrict freedom of speech after Romania became a democracy.