The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday ruled that the Turkey government violated Article 10 freedom of expression of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) by imposing law on citizens which prosecuted them for insulting the president.

The case was brought before the ECHR in 2019 by Vedat Şorli. Şorli is a Turkish national who was sentenced to a prison term of 11 months and 20 days, with the delivery of the judgment suspended for five years, for insulting the president, on account of two posts he had shared on his Facebook account. He was placed in pre-trial detention for two months and two days.

According to ECHR, the criminal proceedings against Şorli, his criminal conviction, and the decision to suspend delivery of the judgment given in those proceedings, which had subjected him to a five-year suspension period, amounted to interference with the exercise by the applicant of his right to freedom of expression.

The court further stated that in Şorli’s case, he was prosecuted under Article 299 of the Criminal Code by the domestic court. This provided greater protection to the president than to other persons who are protected by the ordinary rules on defamation under Article 125 of the Criminal Code. The court stressed that those special laws should be applied keeping with the spirit of the ECHR, and that the sanctity of the office must be maintained at the same time to check if the authorities could have had recourse to any means other than a criminal sanction, such as civil-law measures.

In the present case, the court found that criminal action taken by the state under Article 299 of the Criminal Code was not reasonable. Therefore, a different route should have been adopted by the state. Under the current law, tens of thousands of citizens have been prosecuted. After this judgement, Turkey may initiate some action and make amends.