Youngster sentenced to 11 months in prison for ‘insulting Erdoğan’

KONYA – Doğan News Agency

A high school student has been sentenced to 11 months in prison for allegedly insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the Central Anatolian province of Konya.

The 17-year-old student, identified only by the initials M.E.A., was sentenced to 11 months and 20 days in prison on allegations that he insulted Erdoğan in a speech delivered on Dec. 23, 2014 during a local commemoration ceremony for Mustafa Fehmi Kubilay, a soldier killed 84 years ago in the Aegean province of İzmir.

Following the investigation launched into his speech, M.E.A. was detained at his school in Konya on Dec. 24, 2014 and then formally arrested after appearing at court.

Another court later objected to his arrest after 100 attorneys, including M.E.A.’s lawyer Barış İspir, filed a petition. He was released pending trial on Dec. 26, 2014, after spending only two nights in detention. 

M.E.A. has been tried without arrest since, with the Justice Ministry granting permission for him to be tried in a juvenile court. 

His case was heard in the Konya 3rd Juvenile Court on Sept. 11, with the court sentencing him to 11 months and 20 days in prison on charges of “insulting the Turkish president.”