EU Court Condemns Law Against Insulting Erdogan

Euronews reports:

A Turkish law banning insults against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The court said the law against attacks on the “image” of the head of state was “not in keeping with the spirit of the European Convention”.

The ruling followed a case against a young Turkish man who was convicted of posting two caricatures of Erdogan on Facebook. The man — who is now in his 30s — had shared an image in 2014 of the Turkish President dressed as a woman kissing Barack Obama, then president of the United States.

He was found guilty in 2017 and handed a suspended prison sentence of 11 months and 20 days. He was also remanded in custody for more than two months.

Read the full article. The ruling is here.

.@ECHR_CEDH‘s ruling calling on Turkey to change the law on insulting the president sets an important precedent for thousands of freedom of expression cases. Between 2016-2020 President Erdoğan filed 38,581 lawsuits on grounds of “insulting the president”.https://t.co/ZGnFsfr4SV

— Freedom House (@freedomhouse) October 20, 2021

“Turkey is a democratic country governed by the rule of law that respects human rights,” Turkish foreign minister says. Then they throw out ambassadors who ask for due process… and this. ? https://t.co/PUqVVrwDzd

— Karen Piper (@PiperK) October 23, 2021