Former Miss Turkey convicted for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Instagram
A court handed her a 14-month suspended sentence, saying she would serve it if she commits the crime again.
A Turkish court on Tuesday found former Miss Turkey Merve Buyuksarac guilty of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on social media and handed her a 14-month suspended sentence, according to reports. The court said the 27-year-old model would serve the sentence if she commits the crime again, reported The Independent.
Buyuksarac, who was crowned Miss Turkey back in 2006, was temporarily detained in 2014 for posting a satirical poem, in which verses from the Turkish national anthem are used to criticise Erdogan, on her Instagram account. Buyuksarac had said at the time that she may have quoted the poem, but deleted it soon after a friend told her that she could have committed a crime, reported The Telegraph.
Erdogan has filed around 2,000 defamation cases since assuming the top post in 2014 by using a law that bars anyone from insulting the president.