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#LuxLeaks: Whistleblowers Antoine Deltour and Ralph Halet sentenced

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160629AntoineDeltour2Today (29 June)  the 12th chamber of the Criminal Court of Luxembourg delivered the judgement of the ‘LuxLeaks’  trial: Antoine Deltour is sentenced to a suspended 12-month custodial sentence and a €1,500 fine. Raphaël Halet is sentenced to a suspended 9-month custodial sentence and a €1,000 fine. The journalist Edouard Perrin was acquitted.

The Antoine Deltour support committee is outraged by the sentence against the whistleblowers Antoine Deltour and Raphael Halet. This sentence ignores the public interest of their action. The group consider the verdict to be an affront to all those who supported the campaign and who voiced support.

Antoine Deltour said: “Sentencing the citizens at the origin of LuxLeaks revelations is equivalent to sentencing the regulatory advancements which have been triggered by these revelations and which have been widely acclaimed across Europe. This is also a warning towards future whistleblowers, which is detrimental to citizen’s information and the good functioning of the democracy.”

Deltour has decided to appeal against this verdict. He regrets having to extend a costly and exhausting procedure. The support committee continues to stand alongside Antoine and remains confident that European law will eventually be considered.

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During the recent European Council President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz said that the EU was working in many areas, but one that he considered to be the most important was that of tax avoidance and evasion.

We interviewed Jeppe Kofod MEP when the trial started on April 26. Kofod is the  co-rapporteur of the European Parliament's special tax committee that was established following the #LuxLeaks revelations.

The European Parliament have already called for more support for whistleblowers. Transparency International  told us in April that they would like to see better channels and protections for whistleblowers.

The European Commission’s Competition Commissioner has recognised the important role of whistleblowers, but no Euroean actions have been proposed to protect those who act in the public interest. While EU Reporter welcomes that the journalist was acquitted, journalists would not receive this sort of information if it weren’t for the courage of people such as Antoine Deltour.

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