David Casa has hailed the decision of the Turkish courts to drop the prison sentence against investigative journalist Pelin Unker. Unker was facing a 13 month prison sentence for her factual reporting of the Paradise Papers that had exposed companies held by Turkey’s ruling elite outside of the country.

The PN Head of Delegation David Casa stated: “The charges against Unker were particularly disturbing because the complainants in the case had acknowledged the facts as reported by the journalist to be true. The enforcement of the sentence would have separated a mother from her baby”.

Casa has campaigned for the charges against Unker to dropped. He visited the journalist in Istanbul in February were he met with her legal team. Unker also came to Malta as a guest of MEP David Casa where she attended an event on press freedom he hosted and spoke at the vigil honoring Daphne Caruana Galizia. Last month Casa presented a declaration signed by over 65 MEPs regarding Unker to Turkey’s Ambassador to Malta

“Media freedom is fundamental to democracy. We cannot be complacent while investigative journalists are persecuted for doing their job”, stated Casa.