Court acquits HSBC Turkey CEO of insulting Erdoğan

ISTANBUL

A Turkish court on Aprtil 11 acquitted HSBC Turkey chief executive Selim Kervancı of a charge of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan by retweeting a video on social media at the time of Gezi Park protests in 2013.

The case was launched after a complaint by a private citizen. Kervancı told the court he did not intend to insult anyone by retweeting the video and had not viewed the video before sharing it.

“When I did this there was no way I could have intended any insult,” he told the court before the verdict was announced. “I work in an international bank. An unjust decision would harm my career and would harm my country’s prestige.”

Insulting the president is a crime punishable by up to four years in prison in Turkey.

The video in question was an excerpt of the 2004 German feature film “Downfall” which depicts Adolf Hitler’s last days and the collapse of Nazi Germany.

The incident occurred at the time of protests which began against the redevelopment of central Istanbul’s Gezi Park and grew into nationwide protests. 

Sixteen civil society figures, writers and actors are facing trial over their alleged roles in the protests, accused of seeking to overthrow the government in 2013.