A former MP from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Hüseyin Kocabıyık, was sentenced to prison yesterday for "insulting" President and AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in social media posts.
Kocabıyık was released immediately following the verdict from a first instance court in İstanbul, which sentenced him to 2 years, 5 months, and 5 days in prison for “publicly insulting the president in a continuous manner.”
Kocabıyık, who served as an MP for İzmir and later as the governor of Uşak, was arrested on Oct 7 over his social media posts criticizing the party and the president.
'They made my wife a governor'
In one of posts, he wrote, “The AKP hands out something to everyone. They gave me something too. But they took it back when I objected to certain things. They had made my wife a governor.”
In the same post, he also commented on President Erdoğan’s potential candidacy in future elections. “Erdoğan cannot run unless İmamoğlu is jailed. The two are connected," referencing Ekrem İmamoğlu, who was suspended from duty and jailed as part of a corruption investigation in March.
He was arrested a day later and placed in pre-trial detention. In his initial statement following the arrest, Kocabıyık said, “No one can silence me by putting me in prison. There are judges and prosecutors in this country who do not recognize the Constitution. We will fight even more for a constitutional and democratic state of law, for our country and our people. In fact, not being arrested would have been worse. This is a badge of honor for me.”
Terror propaganda, insulting president most common charges in 'silencing criticism'
Kocabıyık also attracted attention earlier this year when he criticized Erdoğan in relation to the legal proceedings against the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality and İmamoğlu. Addressing Erdoğan, he had said, “You staged a coup against yourself.”
The case against Kocabıyık was also based on his remarks in an interview with Cumhuriyet newspaper. (HA/VK)
