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Endless turmoil: former St. Galler Turnverband president resigns two weeks after his election to the STV ethics committee
The former president of the St. Gallen Gymnastics Association, Dominik Meli, had been elected as an “independent member” of the newly created ethics committee of the Swiss Gymnastics Association (STV) for almost two weeks. After disapproving of his independence, the STV pulled the cord of rupture on Wednesday: Meli will not take office despite the elections.
Dominik Meli, former canton president of the St. Gallen Gymnastics Federation, leaves the ethics committee of the Swiss Gymnastics Federation two weeks after his election.
Gymnastics turbulence and endless: the newly established six-member ethics committee of the Swiss Gymnastics Federation (STV) is already a poorer member two weeks after the election of its members by the members of the member associations by STV. Dominik Meli, former canton president of the St. Gallen Gymnastics Association, is not running for election. There were only five left that were supposed to guarantee a clean gym at STV.
The incident occurs before the newly created regulator could begin its work. It consists of investigating possible infractions to the ethical guidelines within the STV.
According to the ethics committee, Melis’ refusal to act as a member of the commission is voluntary, but the STV management advised her to do so. In connection with his work as cantonal president, allegations have been made of Melis’ own negligence in reporting ethics violations.
Daniel Mägerle is the newly elected Chairman of the Ethics Committee of the Swiss Gymnastics Federation.
A lot of head shaking on staff choice
The election of Melis, who had only resigned as St. Gallen’s cantonal gymnastics parent earlier in the year, to the new internal oversight body of the STV caused so many head tremors in some circles that the staff is now history again. The chairman of the ethics committee, Winterthur lawyer Daniel Mägerle, confirmed the departure at the request of CH Media. The STV released a press release following the request on Thursday.
The ethics committee is committed to independence in accordance with corporate regulations and will soon, probably before the end of the year, tackle its first task: the cause of women’s gymnastics. In the “Magazin” investigation that became known as the “Magglingen Protocols” in late October, gymnasts raised previously unknown serious accusations against national female coach Fabien Martin. Investigating these is now the task of the STV ethics committee.
“Don’t be distracted from our task”
“We do not want to jeopardize the beginning of our work with discordant tones, much less distract ourselves from our task at this time,” says Dominik Melis, the resignation attorney. It is important that the independence of each member of the Commission is indisputable. In terms of content, he was unable and unwilling to comment on the allegations against Meli as they were completely new to him. She does not know Dominik Meli personally and spoke to him on the phone for the first time.
According to an investigation by this newspaper, voices in particular from the area around the Regional Center of Excellence in Eastern Switzerland (RLZO) for artistic gymnastics in Wil have accused Melis of insufficient suitability for the position on the ethics committee. People who are known by name in this newspaper have expressed their concerns in a letter to the members of the Sports Commission of the Council of States, but have also addressed directly to the head of the STV. They do not want to go public for fear of further retaliation from the association.
Two brothers in central organs of the gymnastics association
The letter deals, on the one hand, with the family closeness between Dominik Melis and the chairman of the STV Audit Committee, Markus Meli: the two are brothers. Letter writers ask where the independence is here. In addition to the fact that an office has once again been allocated within the very narrow “Inner Circle” of the gymnastics family, the authors also object to Melis Rolle about the various disputes, sometimes of years, in the RLZO. In particular, these were allegations of nepotism in the former board of directors, intimidation of two managers and an alleged sexual assault by the former women’s head coach of an underage gymnast, who is currently the subject of a criminal investigation for part of the St. Gallen prosecutor’s office.
As a mediator and cantonal manager, Meli has repeatedly made “very old-fashioned” and questionable decisions, most of which were to the disadvantage of people who reported abuses in artistic gymnastics and the RLZO. Overall, Meli was extremely loyal to the association when it came to keeping the allegations under cover and ignoring them. Raising the question to what extent, as an independent member of an ethics committee, you could make a contribution to the serious and contemporary processing of complaints and an enhancement to the outdated partnership culture.
The recipient takes a stand
Dominik Meli responds to a request from CH Media in writing regarding his departure. “The STV ethics committee must be able to carry out its work completely independently. So it makes sense that the allegations received are being investigated by people who have a great deal of technical knowledge but have not had any critical interface with gymnastics recently. To ensure this, I have waived acceptance of the position in the interests of sport. The mere appearance of a possible entanglement is not relevant, ”writes Meli.
The accusations or criticisms directed against him are baseless and unfounded. «The RLZ Ostschweiz association is organized as a private association. By virtue of my position as president of the St. Gallen Gymnastics Association, I was only a representative of a voting member at meetings. The sole responsibility lay with the administration and the board of directors at that time. “These committees were promptly informed by him of all the information he received. Thanks to his commitment, only as a member of a working group, the” changes necessary in the board of directors ”.
The ethics committee can still act
According to the business regulations of the ethics committee, the committee can also act with five instead of six members. The condition is that the representatives of both genders, the three linguistic regions, as well as at least one lawyer, a medical specialist and a representative of the athletes take part in the round.
The remaining five members of the ethics committee are:
- Daniel Mägerle (ZH / TG) (President)
- Christian Blandenier (NE)
- Valentina Lavagno (IT)
- Ursula Laasner-Haussmann (ZH)
- Roman Gisi (LU)
The ethics committee met for a video conference on Thursday, where it put the issue of “independence” on the agenda, says Commission President Mägerle. Each member is called to rethink their own independence. “Because where it says independence, there must also be independence,” said the president.
