A man in the central Turkish province of Eskişehir has been handed down a suspended sentence of 14 months on charges of insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Demirören news agency reported on Tuesday.
The 58-year-old man, identified as Sinan N., was given the prison sentence on the grounds that he insulted Erdoğan on social media last year.
Sinan N. was briefly arrested last year on insult charges and stood trial while free on bail.
Insulting the president can call for a sentence of between one and four years, according to the Turkish Penal Code.
Hundreds of people in Turkey, even including high school students, face charges of insulting President Erdoğan. The slightest criticism is considered insult, and there has been a rise in the number of cases in which people inform on others claiming that they insulted the president, the government or government officials.
