Turkish court upholds singer’s prison sentence for insulting Erdogan

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A Turkish court upheld the 11-month and 20-day sentence delivered to singer and actress Zuhal Olcay in December 2017 for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the BBC reported.

Investigators received a complaint that Olcay had changed the lyrics of one of her songs and made hand gestures to insult the president during a 2016 concert in Istanbul.

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According to footage of the concert, she modified a line in her song “Bos Vermisim Dunyani” (I Let Go of the World) to: “Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it’s all empty, it’s all a lie. Life will end one day and you’ll say ‘I had a dream.’”

Oclay denied having “any ulterior or insulting motive” but instead had intended to improve the rhyme.

Prosecutors had asked for Olcay to be sentenced to four years in prison. However, the court upheld the longer sentence after suspending it last year.

She is expected to be released on probation after serving three days in prison.

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