STRASBOURG, France (CN) — A Romanian newspaper didn’t violate the rights of a billionaire ex-tennis star when it wrote about his unpaid taxes, the European Court of Human Rights held Tuesday.
The Strasbourg-based court found that Ion Țiriac hadn’t suffered any negative consequences and that the 2010 article - entitled "Fifteen multimillionaires and their debts of a quarter of a billion lei to the state" – was published in good faith.
Țiriac, the current president of the Romanian Tennis Federation, sued Romanian national newspaper Financiarul as well as the journalist who wrote the story, identified in court records as S.M., for defamation.
Using information from Forbes, the article detailed the business holdings of some of the richest Romanians and the impact of their dealings on the Romanian tax system. The story described Țiriac as the third richest man in the southeastern European country and claimed that via various business holdings, he owed the Romanian treasury millions.
Known as the Brasov Bulldozer, the 82-year-old began his sporting career as a child ping pong champion before moving on to ice hockey, playing on the Romanian national team at the 1964 Winter Olympics. He eventually switched to tennis, winning the 1970 French Open in men's doubles. He played the first professional match against a woman, defeating Abigail Maynard in 1975.
After the fall of Communism, Țiriac parlayed his sporting fame into business success. In 1991. he established the first private bank in post-Communist Romania, Ion Țiriac Bank, now UniCredit Bank Romania. Țiriac eventually amassed an estimated $1.1 billion fortune.
After years of legal wrangling, the Romanian Supreme Court concluded that the Financiarul article was factually sound and that the subject was in the public interest, not a private matter, as Țiriac claimed.
He then filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights. Established in 1959 by the European Convention on Human Rights, the court protects of the political and civil rights of Europeans.
Upholding the findings of the Romanian courts, the human rights court also rejected Țiriac's claims on Tuesday.
“The court finds no reason to disagree with the domestic courts’ assessment,” the seven-judge panel concluded.
Further, the panel found that Țiriac suffered no reputational damage from the story.
“The court is unable to discern any concrete consequences for the applicant’s reputation and private life or negative impact on his business activities,” the Fourth Chamber wrote.
Țiriac was nominated to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2012 and postage stamps celebrating his tennis wins were issued in Romania in 2015. In 2019, he was voted in as the president of the Romanian Tennis Federation, a position which he currently holds.
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