Netherlands to pay compensation to journalist deported by Turkey
Photo: journalismfestival.com
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The Netherlands will pay compensation to Ans Boersma, a reporter for Het Financieele Dagblad (FD) newspaper who was deported by Turkey in 2019.
Boersma said a settlement was reached with the court on compensation in the case that has been going on for two years. The amount of compensation to be paid would not be announced as part of the settlement, she said.
She also said she expects to be acquitted of charges in a separate hearing to be held on Thursday (May 20) at the Rotterdam Regional Court.
"I'm looking forward to the hearing on Thursday. So I can leave this behind. This case should have been dropped from the very beginning," she told Villamedia. The court is expected to pronounce its verdict two weeks later, according to the report.
After she was deported in January 2019, the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA) filed a case for the annulment of the decision. After the case was rejected, Boersma's attorneys applied to the Constitutional Court.
What happened?
Living in Turkey since 2017, Boersma was deported from Turkey on January 17, 2019, due to security reasons. Shortly before her deportation, Boersma had applied to the Ministry of Interior for the extension of her residence permit and had gone to the Netherlands for the Christmas holiday.
She returned to Turkey on January 3 and was given a press card by the Presidency Directorate of Communications on January 8.
She went to the Bakırköy Migration Management Labor Directorate on January 16 to ask about her application for the extension of her work permit and was detained there, Het Financieele Dagblad reported at the time.
She was taken to the Kartaltepe Police Station and her statement was taken after the Netherlands' consul general went to the police station.
Then she was banned from entering Turkey for six years and deported. The newspaper she worked for said at the time that "The Turkish authorities did not provide any official reasons for this decision."
Presidency Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun said at the time that she had been deported for precautionary purposes after receiving intelligence that she had ties to a "terrorist organization."
Amsterdam confirmed that it had requested information about Boersma from Turkey but there had been no warrants against her in the Netherlands and it had not requested her extradition from Turkey.
After her extradition, a case was filed against her on the allegation that she helped a friend of hers from Syria who was also a member of the Jabhat al-Nusra to obtain a visa from the Netherlands.
She has not been convicted in the case. Het Financieele Dagblad had fired her after her extradition. (HA/VK)