Mother and son jailed in Turkey for throwing flowerpot at picture of Erdogan
A mother and son who threw a flowerpot at a campaign van with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s picture on it in 2017, were sentenced to 11 months and 20 days in prison on the grounds of insulting the president, Turkish news site Ahval reported on Monday.
Member of the ruling Justice and Development Party were campaigning for the president in the family’s neighborhood during the 2017 presidency referendum, but faced angry residents due to their high volume of music.
Ayse Gul Gurcen, who lives on the first floor of an apartment building, asked campaigners to reduce the volume, but the campaigners didn’t oblige, according to the news site.
She then threw a flowerpot at their van, which caused a scuffle and police arrested party members, Gurcen and her son.
In Turkey, insulting president carries a sentence between one and four years.
Between 2010 and 2017, 12,893 cases of insulting the president were filed. Of these, 12,305 were filed under the presidency of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who assumed office in 2014.
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