Comedian convicted for Erdoğan ‘insult’ but freed pending appeal

Filed 1h ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

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An Istanbul court convicted comedian Deniz Goktas of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and religious values, sentencing him to just over 19 months in prison, but ordered his release pending appeal. Goktas had spent nearly three months in a high-security prison since his July arrest, which followed a viral clip of his comedy show reaching 9 million views.

Prosecutors objected to his calling Erdoğan a ‘shy dictator’; Goktas argued in court that ‘dictator is not an insult, it is a political characterisation,’ drawing laughter from the courtroom. The judge acquitted him of a third charge, inciting public hatred, while amending a second charge to insulting religious values and convicting him of that as well.

About 50 supporters gathered outside the courthouse in the rain, and the case is part of a broader crackdown that has swept up politicians, journalists, artists and LGBTQ activists critical of Turkey's government.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

A joke that lands in a courtroom instead of a comedy club tells you plenty about who is nervous these days. The government here didn't argue the joke was untrue, only that it stung. When a system needs nineteen months to teach a man not to make fun of it, the joke was probably closer to the truth than anyone in charge wants to admit.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Fig Leaf Rag - distressed · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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