Defendants: Pelin Ünker

Media Outlet and Position: Cumhuriyet – Finance news editor

Accusations: Attack on personal rights; Defamation

Possible sentence: –

Court: İstanbul 2. Civil Court

Case Background: 

Cumhuriyet’s Economics Correspondent and Finance Editor Pelin Ünker is accused of “attacking personal rights” because of the “Paradise Papers” articles that focused on offshore accounts in Malta reportedly belonging to Turkish Minister of Economics Berat Albayrak, who is also President Erdoğan’s son-in-law, and his brother.

The Paradise Papers investigation in Turkey also examined Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, and his sons’ off-shore accounts in Malta. Yıldırım filed a separate defamation case against Ünker and the chair of the Cumhuriyet Foundation Orhan Erinç, asking 500.000 Turkish lira as compensation.

During the hearing of the case, filed by Yıldırım and his sons, on September 6  the court recalled that there are criminal cases against journalists Ünker and Erinç about the on Paradise Papers and ruled to adjourn the hearing until the finalization of those trials. Later Yıldırım family filed another complaint against Ülker, this time on the charge of “insulting state’s officer” based on the same articles. The case is being examined separately.

During the hearing on November 22, 2018 in the case filed by Albayrak brothers, Ünker’s lawyer asked the merger of cases against the journalist on the basis that the ground for action is based on the same series of articles. The court ruled to take defense request into consideration and adjourned the next hearing to February 21, 2019.

On February 21-hearing, Ünker’s lawyers requested the case to be dropped due to the failure of filing a lawsuit against the article within the four-month limit based on Turkish Press Law.

Next hearing is set for March 28.

Several other news outlets and journalists are subject to defamation cases on the same articles published on their own platforms.