Two more boys charged with ‘insulting’ Erdogan
Turkish prosecutors have charged two schoolboys
aged 12 and 13 with insulting President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan after they tore down a poster of
him, local media reports said Wednesday.
It is the latest case in which youngsters
have been hauled before the courts in
Turkey on similar charges, fuelling
concerns about freedom of speech under
Erdogan.
The prosecutor in the main Kurdish city
of Diyarbakir is seeking jail terms of
between 14 months and four years and
eight months for the pair, according to
the Hurriyet newspaper.
It said the two were caught in May
ripping down the Erdogan poster on a
Diyarbakir street but defended
themselves saying they just wanted to
sell the paper.
“We did not pay attention to who was in
the picture, we do not know who it was,”
the younger defendant, identified only
by the initials K.Y., told a magistrate.
“If the president is prosecuting two
children who tore down a poster, it’s
very sad for justice,” said their lawyer
Ismail Korkmaz.
The boys are being prosecuted under an
article of the penal code that punishes
anyone who “undermines the image” of
the head of state with up to four years in
prison.
Critics say Erdogan has become
increasingly authoritarian since
becoming president in August 2014 after
more than a decade as prime minister
and the number of prosecutions for
insulting him have risen.
Artists, journalists and schoolchildren
have all been targeted.
Last December, a minor aged 17 was
arrested in his classroom and held for
several days on the same charge and
given an 11-month suspended sentence,
triggering outrage.
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