A court in
Istabul today, Tuesday 31 , convicted a former Miss Turkey of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan through social media postings and gave her a 14 -month suspended sentence .
27- year -old Merve Buyuksarac was found guilty of insulting a public official but immediately suspended the sentence on condition that she does not reoffend within the next five years.
Her lawyer , Emre Telci , said he would file a formal objection to the verdict and appeal her case at the Strasbourg , France -based European Court of Justice.
Buyuksarac , who was crowned Miss Turkey in 2006 , was briefly detained last year for sharing a satirical poem on her Instagram account in 2014. The posting , an satarical adaptation of the Turkish national anthem , was shared thosands of times on social media , and it was considered by proscutors to be insulting to Mr Erdogan , who was then prime minister . Buyuksarac , however, denied insulting him .
Since becoming president in 2014 , Erdogan has filed close to 2 ,000 defamation cases under a previously seldom -used law that bars insulting the president. Free speech advocates say the law is being used aggressively to silence and intimidate critics .
The trials have targeted journalists, academics and even schoolchildren . Coupled with a crackdown on opposition media and journalists, the trials have sounded alarms over the erosion of rights and freedoms in a country that was once seen as a model of Muslim democracy .
Erdogan caused an uproar last month when, on the basis of an archaic German law that criminalizes insulting foreign heads of state , he went after a German comedian who mocked him in a profanity -packed poem .
“ These insult trials are being initiated in series, they are being filed automatically,” Telci told The Associated Press by telephone after the verdict . “
Merve was prosecuted for sharing a posting that did not belong to her. My client has been convicted for words that do not belong to her. ”
Thousands of others also posted the poem . It did not mention Erdogan by name, but alluded to a corruption scandal that allegedly involved his family .
Before the verdict was announced , Erdogan ’ s lawyer , Hatice Ozay, argued in court that Buyuksarac ’s Instagram post had gone beyond “ the limits of criticism” and amounted to “an attack ” on the Turkish leader ’ s personal rights , the state - run Anadolu Agency reported .
Istabul today, Tuesday 31 , convicted a former Miss Turkey of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan through social media postings and gave her a 14 -month suspended sentence .27- year -old Merve Buyuksarac was found guilty of insulting a public official but immediately suspended the sentence on condition that she does not reoffend within the next five years.
Her lawyer , Emre Telci , said he would file a formal objection to the verdict and appeal her case at the Strasbourg , France -based European Court of Justice.
Buyuksarac , who was crowned Miss Turkey in 2006 , was briefly detained last year for sharing a satirical poem on her Instagram account in 2014. The posting , an satarical adaptation of the Turkish national anthem , was shared thosands of times on social media , and it was considered by proscutors to be insulting to Mr Erdogan , who was then prime minister . Buyuksarac , however, denied insulting him .
Since becoming president in 2014 , Erdogan has filed close to 2 ,000 defamation cases under a previously seldom -used law that bars insulting the president. Free speech advocates say the law is being used aggressively to silence and intimidate critics .
The trials have targeted journalists, academics and even schoolchildren . Coupled with a crackdown on opposition media and journalists, the trials have sounded alarms over the erosion of rights and freedoms in a country that was once seen as a model of Muslim democracy .
Erdogan caused an uproar last month when, on the basis of an archaic German law that criminalizes insulting foreign heads of state , he went after a German comedian who mocked him in a profanity -packed poem .
“ These insult trials are being initiated in series, they are being filed automatically,” Telci told The Associated Press by telephone after the verdict . “
Merve was prosecuted for sharing a posting that did not belong to her. My client has been convicted for words that do not belong to her. ”
Thousands of others also posted the poem . It did not mention Erdogan by name, but alluded to a corruption scandal that allegedly involved his family .
Before the verdict was announced , Erdogan ’ s lawyer , Hatice Ozay, argued in court that Buyuksarac ’s Instagram post had gone beyond “ the limits of criticism” and amounted to “an attack ” on the Turkish leader ’ s personal rights , the state - run Anadolu Agency reported .
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