The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ/EFJ) are shocked by the decision of the public prosecutor on 2 August to open a counter-appeal against Antoine Deltour, Raphaël Halet and Edouard Perrin, the two whistleblowers and the journalist involved in the so-called ‘‘LuxLeaks scandal’’.
The IFJ, EFJ and their French affiliate
the Syndicat National des Journalistes (SNJ) believe the appeal is targeting the investigative journalist Edouard Perrin who was set free by the court in June.
On 29 June, the IFJ welcomed the decision of acquitting Perrin but
warned that the verdict would give a wrong signal for potential whistleblowers and have a negative impact on investigative journalism.
Deltour and Halet were each given 12 and 9 months suspended jail sentences for handing over thousands of documents from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to Perrin. Both Deltour and Halet had appealed against their verdict following the court’s decision.
The EFJ has been campaigning, along with the European Parliament, for an EU-wide legislation protecting whistleblowers from criminal proceedings.
For more information, please contact IFJ on + 32 2 235 22 16
The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 140 countries
Follow the IFJ on
Twitter and
Facebook
Subscribe to IFJ News