Sentencing of the applicant for having insulted the President of the Republic in Facebook posts : Turkey violated Article 10 ECHR (freedom of expression)
In Chamber's judgment (19/10/2021) in the case of Vedat Şorli v. Turkey (application no. 42048/19) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been a violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The case concerned the sentencing of the applicant to a term of imprisonment – with delivery of the judgement suspended for five years – for insulting the President of the Republic, on account of two posts which he shared on his Facebook account. The content comprised, among other things, a caricature and a photograph of the President of the Republic accompanied by satirical and critical comments concerning him. The judgment convicting the applicant was based on Article 299 of the Criminal Code, which afforded a higher level of protection to the President of the Republic than to other persons. The Court found in particular as follows. - There had been no justification in the present case for Mr Şorli’s placement in po