Court dismisses case against journalist Pelin Ünker over 'Paradise Papers' reports

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The İstanbul 21th Penal Court of First Instance has dismissed a businessperson's claim for damages against Pelin Ünker, a reporter for daily Cumhuriyet, and Orhan Erinç, the chair of the Cumhuriyet Foundation.

Ahmet Çalık, the owner of the Çalık Holding, had filed a suit against them because of a series of news articles published in 2016 about the Paradise Papers leak, which has revealed the offshore account information of more than 214,000 people, including about 500 from Turkey.

Handing down its decision today (December 22), the court rejected Çalık's demand to be paid 10,000 lira (~1,310 USD) for material damages.

It said the justified decision would be pronounced later.

Lawsuits by politicians

This wasn't the first case against Ünker for her articles on the Paradise Papers.

In January 2019, Ünker was sentenced to 13.5 months in prison and to pay a fine of 8,160 lira (~1,070 USD) for "insulting and slandering" former Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım and his sons.

The appeals court overturned the prison sentence but upheld the monetary fine in May 2019.

Another case filed by Berat Albayrak, former minister of treasury and finance and the son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Serhat Albayrak, his brother, was dropped due to statute of limitations in March 2019. (HA/VK)