Published on 4 October 2021
FOURTH SECTION
Application no. 2156/16
Lucian-Adrian UNGUR
against Romania
lodged on 22 December 2015
communicated on 16 September 2021
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The application concerns the dismissal by a final judgment of the Cluj Court of Appeal of 25 June 2015 of an action brought by the applicant against a journalist and the company owning a local online newspaper (Bistriţeanul.ro). The applicant had brought the action under general tort law complaining of the publication, on 27 January 2012, of an allegedly defamatory article entitled “The Lucky Hungarian wants to buy our silence” (Unguru Bulan vrea să ne cumpere tăcerea). Relying on Article 8 of the Convention the applicant complained about a breach of his rights to honour and private life because the domestic courts failed to protect his aforementioned rights, assessed the circumstances of the case wrongly and failed to strike a proper balance between the opposing interests at stake.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Has there been an interference with the applicant’s right to private life within the meaning of Article 8 § 1 of the Convention having regard to the content of the article in question?
2. If so, was that interference justified under Article 8 § 2 of the Convention? In particular, did the domestic judicial authorities adequately balance, in the light of the criteria established in the Court’s case-law, the applicant’s right to respect for his private life and the defendants’ right to freedom of expression?
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