Turkey jails woman over “obscene hand gesture at President Erdogan”

PanARMENIAN.Net - A Turkish court on Wednesday, January 20 sentenced a woman to almost a year in jail for making an obscene hand gesture at President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an anti-government protest in 2014, AFP reports.

Filiz Akinci was convicted of making an offensive hand gesture at Erdogan - then prime minister - while his bus was passing on his way to a rally for local elections in the western city of Izmir in March 2014.

In the sixth hearing of the trial on Wednesday, the court in Izmir sentenced Akinci, an economist and a mother-of-two, to 11 months and 20 days in jail, Dogan news agency reported.

The court had originally sentenced her to six months in jail, but doubled it because the "victim" was a public official, Dogan added.

Akinci's sentence was eventually reduced by ten days due to her "good behaviour" during the trial. She was also ordered to pay 1,800 Turkish lira ($590; 540 euros) in legal costs to Erdogan's lawyer Sema Cansu Bozkurt Sutcu.

"I am not guilty. I didn't commit any crime," Akinci told the court, breaking down into tears when the verdict was read out, AFP says.

The judges did not suspend her sentence as in most cases in the past against suspects facing legal proceedings on accusations of insulting Erdogan or other top officials.

Concerns have mounted in recent months over freedom of expression in Turkey, in particular over the spiralling numbers of Turks being taken to court on charges of insulting Erdogan, accused by his opponents of increasing authoritarianism.