Owners withdraw dismissal of Thomas Nilsen
The BarentsObserver editor gets compensation from Barents Secretariat board.
In a meeting between Board Chairman Stig Olsen and Thomas Nilsen today, the former announced that he is withdrawing the dimissal of the newspaper editor.
”This show that the dismissal was unfounded and that the Board had a lost case”, Nilsen says to BarentsObserver.
The newspaper editor was on 28th of September dismissed from his job with immediate effect. He subsequently won support from the Norwegian Union of Journalists, which decided to give him legal assistance in a court case.
That court case will now be cancelled, Nilsen says.
He is confident that the Barents Secretariat owners withdraws the dismissal knowing that they would have lost in court.
Nilsen says he will not return to the Barents Secretariat. He will get a compensation from the Secretariat owners.
Barents Secretariat Board Chairman Stig Olsen says to BarentsObserver that the owners are very happy with a deal which both parts are content with. ”It is very good for the Barents Secretariat and BarentsObserver that we avoid a court case”, he underlines.
At the same time, he stresses that the deal with Nilsen will not affect the handling of BarentsObserver and its organization in the Board meeting due 23 October.
The newspaper BarentsObserver is owned by the three northernmost counties of Norway; Nordland, Troms and Finnmark.
Read more about the BarentsObserver Case here
