Protest outside court demands fairness for Turkish mothers separated from sons
Malta’s justice system lacks proportionality, protesters said on Thursday as they demonstrated outside the law courts in the wake of the six-month imprisonment of two Turkish mothers, separating them from their toddler sons. The mothers had admitted to using forged travel documents, saying they could not return to their country because of political persecution. The protest was attended by members of Movement Graffitti, the Maltese Association of Social Works, Aditus Foundation as well as former President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca as president of Euro Child - a network of organisations and individuals working with and for children in Europe. Some of those present carried protest placards as well as a doll in a cage, symbolising a child. The protesters said that while the courts had given suspended jail terms to sex offenders, the Turkish mothers fleeing their country were jailed for six months in a judgment that ignored their children’s best interest. "I have seen people convicted of sexual offences getting suspended sentences. Where is the proportionality? Without proportionality this building behind me is useless,” said Andrew Azzopardi who represented social workers as he...