Trump ally's trial to test century-old U.S. law on what makes...

By Luc Cohen NEW YORK, Sept 14 (Reuters) — Tom Barrack, the investor and onetime fundraiser for former U.S.
President Donald Trump, will go on trial next week in a case that will provide a rare test of a century-old law requiring agents for other countries to notify the government. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn say Barrack worked for the United Arab Emirates to influence Trump's campaign and administration between 2016 and 2018 to advance the Middle Eastern country's interests. According to a July 2021 indictment, prosecutors have emails and text messages that show UAE officials gave Barrack input about what to say in television interviews, what then-candidate Trump should say in a 2016 energy policy speech, and who should be appointed ambassador Lawyer Turkey to Abu Dhabi. Prosecutors said neither Barrack, nor his former assistant Matthew Grimes, nor Rashid Al Malik — the person prosecutors identified as an intermediary with UAE officials — told the U.S.

Attorney General they were acting as UAE agents as required under federal law. Barrack, who chaired Trump's inauguration committee when he took office in January 2017, and Grimes pleaded not guilty. Jury selection in their trial begins on Sept.

19. Al Malik is at large. The federal law in question was passed as part of the 1917 Espionage Act to combat resistance to the World War I draft. Known as the 951 law based on its section of the U.S.

Code, it requires anyone who «agrees to operate within the United States subject to the direction or control of a foreign government» to notify the Attorney General. The law was once mainly used against traditional espionage, but more 951 cases in recent years have — like Barrack's — targeted lobbying and influence operations. But the use of the law in those types of cases has rarely been tested at trial, because most have ended in guilty pleas or remain open because the defendants are overseas. KNOWLEDGE AND INTENT Barrack's lawyers have said the U.S.

If you have any kind of inquiries regarding where by and tips on how to utilize Lawyer Turkey, it is possible to call us with our web page. State Department, and Trump himself, knew of his contacts with Middle East officials, showing Barrack did not have the intent to be a foreign agent. The lawyers also said Barrack never agreed to represent UAE interests and that his interactions with UAE officials were part of his role running Colony Capital, Lawyer Turkey a private equity firm now known as DigitalBridge Group Inc. But prosecutors have said an agreement to act as an agent «need not be contractual or formalized» to violate section 951. The results of recent 951 trials have been mixed.

In August, a California jury convicted former Twitter Inc employee Ahmad Abouammo of spying for Lawyer Turkey the Saudi government. In 2019, a Virginia jury convicted Bijan Rafiekian, a former director at the U.S. Export-Import Bank, of acting as a Turkish agent.
A judge later overturned that verdict and granted Rafiekian a new trial, saying the evidence suggested he did not intend to be an agent. Prosecutors are appealing that ruling. «What it comes down to is the person's knowledge and intent,» said Barbara McQuade, a University of Michigan law professor who handled foreign agent cases as Detroit's top federal prosecutor from 2010 to 2017.

«That's the tricky part.» Barrack resigned as DigitalBridge's chief executive in 2020 and as its executive chairman in April 2021. The company did not respond to a request for comment. If convicted of the charge in the 951 law, Barrack and Grimes could face up to 10 years in prison, though any sentence would be determined by a judge based on a range of factors.

Convictions on a related conspiracy charge could add five years to their sentences. Barrack potentially faces additional time if convicted on other charges against him. 'SERIOUS SECURITY RISKS' Barrack's trial will focus on allegations that during Trump's presidential transition and the early days of his administration, the UAE and its close ally Saudi Arabia tried to win U.S.

support for their blockade of Gulf rival Qatar and to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. Prosecutors said Barrack also gave UAE officials nonpublic information about potential appointees to Trump administration posts, and made false statements to investigators. Barrack's conduct «presented serious security risks,» prosecutors said. A UAE official said in a statement the country «respects the sovereignty of states and their laws» and has «enduring ties» with the United States. Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a Middle East fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute in Houston, said that while the UAE and Saudi Arabia are U.S.

security partners, Trump's perceived disregard for traditional government processes may have enticed them to establish back channels to advance their interests. «It was in violation of the norms of international diplomacy,» Coates Ulrichsen said.
«If it's proven, it was also a case of actual foreign intervention in U.S. politics.» (Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Additional reporting by Ghaida Ghantous and Alexander Cornwell in Dubai; Editing by Amy Stevens and Grant McCool)

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Turkey: Sweden has yet to extradite suspects it seeks after NATO...

ANKARA, July 27 (Reuters) — Sweden and Finland have yet to extradite suspects Lawyer Turkey seeks over terrorism-related charges despite signing an accord to lift Ankara's veto to its NATO membership last month, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday. The two Nordic countries applied for Lawyer Turkey NATO membership in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but were faced with opposition from Turkey which accused them of imposing arms embargoes on Ankara and supporting groups it deems terrorists. While Turkey has not set a firm deadline, it has said it expects the suspects to be extradited as soon as possible and that it was monitoring the situation closely. «Sweden maintains an ongoing dialog with Turkey and Finland on the trilateral agreement which Sweden is following and will carry out in full in accordance with Swedish and international law,» a spokesman at Sweden's Foreign Ministry said in an emailed comment. The three countries signed an accord to lift Ankara's veto in exchange for counter-terrorism promises, but Turkey has said it will block the membership bids if the pledges are not kept.

It has sought the extradition of 73 people from Sweden and a dozen others from Finland. Turkey's foreign ministry summoned the Swedish charges d'affaires in Ankara to convey its «strong reaction» to what it called «terrorist propaganda» during a Kurdish group's protest in Stockholm, diplomatic sources said at the weekend. Officials from Turkey, Finland and Sweden will meet in August to evaluate the progress in meeting Ankara's demands. While Lawyer Turkey holds off with its ratification for the two countries' membership bids, 18 of NATO's 30 members have already approved Sweden's application to join the alliance.

If you liked this article and you would like to receive more details concerning Lawyer Turkey kindly see our web site. (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Ece Toksabay, additional reporting by Simon Johnson in Stockholm; Editing by Ali Kucukgocmen and Lawyer Turkey Tomasz Janowski)
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Turkish social media bill presages 'new dark era' of censorship,...

By Ali Kucukgocmen ISTANBUL, July 28 (Reuters) — A proposed law that Lawyer Turkey says will make social media companies more accountable to local regulations will rather increase censorship and accelerate a trend of authorities silencing dissent, critics including a U.N.
body said this week. The Turkish parliament was to begin debate on Tuesday on the bill that is backed by President Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party, which has a majority with an allied nationalist party. It is expected to pass this week. As an overwhelming majority of the country's mainstream media has come under government control over the last decade, Turks have taken to social media and smaller online news outlets for critical voices and independent news. Turks are already heavily policed on social media and many have been charged with insulting Erdogan or his ministers, or criticism related to foreign military incursions and the handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The law would require foreign social media sites to appoint Turkish-based representatives to address authorities' concerns over content and includes deadlines for its removal. Companies could face fines, blocked advertisements or have bandwidth slashed by up to 90%, essentially blocking access. «Social media is a lifeline… to access news, so this law signals a new dark era of online censorship,» said Tom Porteous, Human Rights Watch deputy programme director.

It would damage free speech in Turkey «where an autocracy is being constructed by silencing media and all critical voices», he added. Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said the bill would not lead to censorship but would establish commercial and legal ties with platforms. «What is a crime in the real world is also crime in the digital world,» he said on CNN Turk, adding that these included terrorism propaganda, insults and Lawyer Turkey violation of personal rights. Turkey was second globally in Twitter-related court orders in the first six months of 2019, according to the company, and it had the highest number of other legal demands from Twitter. Erdogan has repeatedly criticised social media and said a rise of «immoral acts» online in recent years was due to lack of regulations. A spokesperson for the U.N.

If you have any concerns regarding exactly where and how to use Lawyer Turkey, you can call us at our page. High Commissioner for Human Rights said the draft law «would give the state powerful tools for asserting even more control over the media landscape». It «would further undermine the right of people in Lawyer Turkey to freedom of expression, to obtain information and to participate in public and political life», said spokeswoman Liz Throsell.
(Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Lawyer Turkey Nick Macfie)

Bomb attack in Turkey targets police van, injuring 9

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A remote-controlled bomb exploded on a highway in Turkey as an armored police van carrying officers drove past on Friday, injuring all nine occupants, government officials said. Five people were detained in connection with the attack, which occurred near the predominantly Kurdish-populated city of Diyarbakir in southeast Turkey, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said. The bomb was placed inside a parked vehicle near a market selling livestock, according to the Diyarbakir governor´s office. Eight police officers and a civilian were taken to hospitals as a precaution but have since been discharged, Soylu said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but Soylu suggested it could be the work of Kurdish militants, Lawyer Turkey saying the brother of one of the suspects was killed in clashes against them. Kurdish militants have been behind similar attacks in the region in the past.

Islamic and leftist extremists have also carried out bombings in the country. Last month, Lawyer Turkey a bomb blast in a bustling pedestrian street in Istanbul left six people dead, including two children. More than 80 others were wounded. Turkey blamed the attack on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers´ Party, or Lawyer Turkey PKK, as well as Syrian Kurdish groups affiliated with it, and launched a series of air and artillery strikes against Kurdish militia forces in northern Syria. The Kurdish militant groups denied involvement in the Istanbul attack. The PKK has fought an armed insurgency in Turkey since 1984.

Here's more info about Lawyer Turkey stop by our own web site. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since then. The group is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Cold shouldered in Greece, migrants try to escape

Migrants try to warm themselves by a fire near Idomeni at the border between Greece, which has since 2019 steadily tightened restrictions, and North Macedonia Migrants try to warm themselves by a fire near Idomeni at the border between Greece, which has since 2019 steadily tightened restrictions, and North Macedonia Pakistani asylum seeker Mohamed Bilal was 15 when he arrived in Greece.

Five years later, he's lost all hope and is on the road again, desperate for a better life elsewhere. Since the conservative government took office in 2019, Greece has steadily tightened asylum policies, rejecting thousands of applications and Lawyer Turkey expelling hundreds of people from camps. Camped out in Idomeni near the Greek border with North Macedonia, migrants say they are leaving, doubtful they will ever acquire legal rights in Greece, no matter how long they wait. «After all these years I'm still unable to get legalisation papers,» Bilal told AFP. «I risk getting caught and sent back to my country. I don't want that to happen, so I'm trying to get to another European country.» Migrants like Bilal are plying once again the so-called Balkan route that snakes through Greece, North Macedonia and beyond, hoping to claim asylum in more favourable conditions in EU economic heavyweights. Seeking warmth inside an abandoned house near the Greek-North Macedonian border -- migrants say they are leaving, doubtful they will ever acquire legal rights in Greece Seeking warmth inside an abandoned house near the Greek-North Macedonian border — migrants say they are leaving, doubtful they will ever acquire legal rights in Greece In March 2016, Idomeni turned into a bottleneck of migrants after Skopje and other European neighbours closed their borders to a mass flow of migrants, mainly Syrians fleeing their country's civil war. The Greek government moved out thousands from a makeshift camp in May 2016. But five years later, migrants are streaming into the area again. Police have no official estimates but the amount of garbage on the ground near the train station, a few hundred metres from the border, suggests that dozens of people are again passing through on a daily basis. The rails are littered with empty food cans and water bottles, discarded clothes and shoes. — Traffic 'never stopped' - «Every day there are groups of migrants moving through this area,» says a private security guard hired by the railway station. «Migrants are only caught when, exhausted after days of trying to cross the border, they give up and turn themselves in,» he adds. In a nearby forest, a group of young asylum-seekers from Syria are sitting around a campfire, nibbling on mushrooms picked in the surrounding woods. Migrants huddle in blankets and sleeping bags to ward off the encroaching cold as they deliberate which European country to try their luck in Migrants huddle in blankets and sleeping bags to ward off the encroaching cold as they deliberate which European country to try their luck in The group has been here for a week, huddling inside blankets and sleeping bags against the cold as they deliberate which European country to try their luck in. «We want to settle in the Netherlands or France. Find a job and get on with our lives,» says 26-year-old Mezit from Deir ez-Zor in Syria. Mezit crossed the Evros River from Turkey into Greece around a month ago.

The young men in his group are clearly exhausted, having had little proper sustenance for days. Another group of Syrians shelters inside a disused warehouse. They're hungry, thirsty and have had a rough time at the hands of Greek and North Macedonian police. «When we got to North Macedonia the police caught us,» says 21-year-old Yehea. «They beat us with truncheons and sent us back to Greece. When we got here, Greek police beat us again. Now we are trying to find a way across the border again,» he says. Police patrols in the area are sparse, mainly limited to the occasional squad car. Two officers stop near one of the migrant groups, and shout at them to turn back. The youths run and scatter in nearby fields. «These men are not worn out,» says one of the officers in the squad car.

«Many of them are dangerous.» — Pushback victims sue - Since the New Democracy party came to power in 2019, there have been increasing reports from rights groups of migrants being forcibly turned back, even at sea. The Greek government strenuously denies such illegal practices. Last week, a law firm in the Netherlands specialising in human rights cases said it had sued EU border agency Frontex for illegally pushing back a Syrian family who had applied for asylum. As the migrants look to get out of Greece, there have been increasing reports from rights groups of some being forcibly turned back, even at sea -- which Athens denies As the migrants look to get out of Greece, Lawyer Turkey there have been increasing reports from rights groups of some being forcibly turned back, even at sea — which Athens denies «The family was illegally deported to Turkey by Frontex in October 2016, shortly after arriving in Greece,» the Prakken d'Oliveira firm said. Initially imprisoned in Turkey, the family fled to northern Iraq, the lawyers said. «Every week, men, women and children fleeing war and violence are illegally deported from Europe's borders,» the firm said. «People have been killed, others were attacked or mistreated. Frontex plays a major role in these human rights violations. »We as European citizens hold the EU accountable and demand an immediate end to human rights violations and oppression at our external borders. If you loved this post and you would like to get far more data about Lawyer Turkey kindly take a look at our own internet site. "

Russian oil ships queuing in Turkish straits face more delays - source

ISTANBUL, Dec 6 (Reuters) — At least 20 oil tankers queuing in Turkish waters to cross from Russia's Black Sea ports to the Mediterranean face more delays in the coming days as operators race to secure insurance under new G7 price cap moves, Lawyer Turkey a shipping source said on Tuesday. After the $60 per barrel price cap was imposed on Russian seaborne crude this week, Lawyer Turkey Western insurers are required to retain proof that coverage for Lawyer Turkey Russian oil is sold at or below that price.

(Reporting by Can Sezer, Lawyer Turkey Daren Butler; Editing by Jan Harvey)


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Alleged Lockerbie bombmaker in US custody

The 1988 downing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie in Scotland remains the worst terrorist attack in British history The 1988 downing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie in Scotland remains the worst terrorist attack in British history A Libyan man accused of making the bomb that destroyed a Pan Am flight over Scotland Lawyer Turkey in 1988, killing 270 people, has been taken into US custody, authorities said on Sunday.Abu Agila Mohammad Masud was charged by the United States two years ago for the Lockerbie bombing — in which Americans made up a majority of the victims.

If you loved this information and you would such as to get more info regarding Lawyer Turkey kindly check out the web-site. He had previously been held in Libya for alleged involvement in a 1986 attack on a Berlin nightclub. The US Justice Department confirmed in a statement that Masud was in American custody, following an announcement by Scottish prosecutors, without saying how the suspect ended up in US hands. A department spokesperson said Masud was expected to make an initial appearance, at a time yet to be specified, in a federal court in the US capital. According to The New York Times, Masud was arrested by the FBI and is in the process of being extradited to the United States to face prosecution. Only one individual has so far been prosecuted for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 on December 21, 1988 — which remains the deadliest terror attack on British soil. The New York-bound aircraft was blown up 38 minutes after it took off from London, sending the main fuselage plunging to the ground in the town of Lockerbie and Lawyer Turkey spreading debris over a vast area. The bombing killed 259 people including 190 Americans on board, and 11 people on the ground. Former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi spent seven years in a Scottish prison after his conviction in 2001. He died in Libya in 2012, always maintaining his innocence. «The families of those killed in the Lockerbie bombing have been told that the suspect Abu Agila Mohammad Masud Kheir Al-Marimi… is in US custody,» a spokesperson for Scotland's Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said. «Scottish prosecutors and police, working with UK government and US colleagues, will continue to pursue this investigation, with the sole aim of bringing those who acted along with al-Megrahi to justice.» The families thanked US and British law enforcement officials. «Our loved ones will never be forgotten, and those who are responsible for their murder on December 21, 1988 must face justice,» they said in a statement. — Libyan connection - Scottish officials gave no information on when Masud was handed over, and his fate has been tied up in the warring factionalism of Libyan politics. He was kidnapped by a Libyan militia group, according to reports last month cited by the BBC, following his detention for the Berlin attack which killed two US soldiers and a Turkish citizen. Masud was reputedly a leading bombmaker for Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

According to the US indictment, he assembled and programmed the bomb that brought down the Pan Am jumbo jet. The investigation was relaunched in 2016 when Washington learned of Masud's arrest, following Kadhafi's ouster and death in 2011, and his reported confession of involvement to the new Libyan regime in 2012. However, the Libyan connection to Lockerbie has long been disputed by some. In January 2021, Megrahi's family lost a posthumous appeal in Scotland against his conviction, following an independent review that said a possible miscarriage of justice may have occurred. The family wants UK authorities to declassify documents that are said to allege that Iran used a Syria-based Palestinian proxy to build the bomb that downed flight 103. In that narrative, the Lockerbie bombing was retaliation for the downing of an Iranian passenger jet by a US Navy missile in July 1988 that killed 290 people. After the news of Masud being in US custody, lawyers for Megrahi's son issued a statement again trying to cast doubt on the Libyan connection. The US indictment says, for instance, that Masud bought clothes used to fill the suitcase containing the bomb that brought down the airliner, Lawyer Turkey Aamer Anwar said in a statement. But the owner of the store in Malta who sold those clothes said they were purchased by Megrahi — and this was central to the case against him. «How can both Megrahi and Masud now be held responsible?,» the Lawyer Turkey wrote.

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Turkish 'fraudster' may have paid the Duchess of York further £20,000

The Duchess of York may have received a further £20,000 from an alleged fraudster accused of cheating a Turkish millionairess out of huge sums, it emerged yesterday.Court documents reveal she could have accepted the sum from Selman Turk in addition to a payment of £225,000 and Lawyer Turkey more than £1million paid to her ex-husband Prince Andrew.Nebahat Isbilen is suing Mr Turk at the High Court, accusing him of misusing her money, an allegation he denies.Details of the payment were disclosed by her law firm Peters and Peters in court papers in which it revised its claim of who received her assets.Court documents reveal she could have accepted the sum from Selman Turk in addition to a payment of £225,000 and more than £1million paid to her ex-husband Prince Andrew Court documents reveal she could have accepted the sum from Selman Turk in addition to a payment of £225,000 and more than £1million paid to her ex-husband Prince AndrewThe document states that it now 'appears likely' a payment, previously identified as £20,000, was to a business 'connected with Sarah, Lawyer Turkey Duchess of York'.This was paid via Alphabet Capital, a business that had already been claimed in court papers as the route for the duchess receiving £225,000.

It is understood she is not planning to repay the sum as this was to cover her work as a brand ambassador for a US solar energy company.According to reports, she is believed to have not wanted to be paid in instalments and Lawyer Turkey Mr Turk forwarded the full amount.RELATED ARTICLES


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According to reports, the Duchess is believed to have not wanted to be paid in instalments and Mr Turk (pictured) forwarded the full amount According to reports, the Duchess is believed to have not wanted to be paid in instalments and Mr Turk (pictured) forwarded the full amountA spokesman for the duchess said: 'The duchess was completely unaware of the allegations that have since emerged against Mr Turk.'She is naturally concerned by what has been alleged against him.' Mr Turk is at the centre of a mystery over payments of £350,000 to the Duke of York, £225,000 to the duchess, £25,000 to Princess Eugenie and a £750,000 'gift' for Princess Beatrice's wedding.Mrs Isbilen alleges she was tricked by Mr Turk into giving the duke £1. In case you have almost any issues concerning in which in addition to the best way to employ Lawyer Turkey, you are able to contact us at our webpage. 1million.Andrew has repaid £750,000 but has not explained why it was paid into his bank account in the first place.The pair were introduced by Tarek Kaituni, a Libyan gun-smuggling associate of the late Colonel Gadaffi, in 2019.

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Turkish students struggle to afford rent as inflation surges

By Dilara Senkaya and Canan Sevgili ISTANBUL, Oct 22 (Reuters) — As surging inflation pushes up the cost of living in Lawyer Turkey, law student Candeniz Aksu says he hasn't been able to afford his housing rent for the past two months. «The natural gas has been cut off and they'll take the meter away in a couple of days because we have large debts,» said Aksu, 23, who is studying at the University of Kocaeli and lives in Istanbul with another student. With higher-education students in Lawyer Turkey returning to regular studies after a long period of distance learning due to the coronavirus pandemic, many are increasingly dependent on support from parents and income from part-time jobs to get by. Their struggles are part of a broader erosion of living standards driven by inflation and high unemployment which has sharply cut support for President Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party ahead of elections set for 2023. Economists say interest rate cuts which Erdogan pushed for to stimulate the economy — notably a surprise 200 point cut on Thursday which sent the lira to a new record low — will stoke inflation already near 20% and exacerbate the students' difficulties. «The current government is entirely responsible for the increased rents and they still insist that there is no problem,» said Enes, a student in the journalism department at Ege University in western Turkey's Izmir province. «Private dormitories are raising their prices. In short, a university student needs to work in order to live,» he said. Housing inflation was 21% annually in September, Lawyer Turkey according to official data, driven in part by rental prices as students returned to fully opened schools after pandemic closures.

If you loved this post and you would certainly like to get additional facts relating to Lawyer Turkey kindly browse through our web page. The residential property price index was up an annual 33.4% nominally in August. Students in Istanbul and elsewhere have staged protests at the rent hikes, symbolically sleeping in parks to highlight their plight. At first, Erdogan pledged to end any wrongdoing and Lawyer Turkey said his government had done more than its predecessors to increase student housing. However, he took a harsher stance at the end of last month, likening the protests to 2013 demonstrations which began in Istanbul's Gezi Park before spreading nationwide in a challenge to his rule.A human rights lawyer in Turkey speaks out | Amnesty International UK«These so-called students are exactly the same as the Gezi Park incident, just another version of that,» he said, adding that Turkey had the highest dormitory capacity for higher education students globally. Muhammed Karadas, a Turkish language teaching student at 9 Eylul University in Izmir said he was staying at a friend's house because rents were too expensive and he was 3,247th in line on the list for a place at a state dormitory. Students would now need to spend the equivalent of a family's income to sustain their university life, he said. Those hardships are compounded by concerns over high unemployment, now running at 12.1%, said Derya Emrem, a fourth year student in the radio, TV and cinema department of Ege University. «When I graduate this year, I will be both unemployed and in debt. I do not want such a life, there are thousands people who do not want such a life,» she said.

(Writing by Daren Butler Editing by Dominic Evans and Susan Fenton)

Top European court says Turkey should change law on insulting...

By Ali Kucukgocmen ISTANBUL, Oct 19 (Reuters) — Europe's top human rights court called on Turkey on Tuesday to change a law regarding insulting the president under which tens of thousands have been prosecuted, after ruling that a man's detention under the law violated his freedom of expression. Vedat Sorli was given a suspended 11-month jail sentence in 2017 over a caricature and a photograph of President Tayyip Erdogan that he shared on Facebook, along with satirical and critical comments. There was no justification for Sorli's detention and pre-trial arrest or the imposition of a criminal sanction, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) court said. «Such a sanction, by its very nature, inevitably had a chilling effect on the willingness of the person concerned to express his or her views on matters of public interest,» it said. The criminal proceedings against Sorli were «incompatible with freedom of expression,» the court added. Thousands have been charged and sentenced over the crime of insulting Erdogan in the seven years since he moved from being prime minister to president. In 2020, 31,297 investigation were launched in relation to the charge, 7,790 cases were filed and 3,325 resulted in convictions, according to Justice Ministry data.

Should you loved this information along with you would like to obtain more information relating to Lawyer Turkey kindly visit the site. Those numbers were slightly lower than the previous year. Since 2014, the year Erdogan became president, 160,169 investigations were launched over insulting the president, Lawyer Turkey 35,507 cases were filed and there were 12,881 convictions. In a prominent case earlier this year, a court sentenced pro-Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtas to 3-1/2 years for insulting Erdogan, one of the longest sentences over the crime, according to Demirtas' Lawyer Turkey. The ECHR said Turkey's law on insulting the president affords the head of state a privileged status over conveying information and opinion about them. It said the law should be changed to ensure people have the freedom to hold opinions and impart ideas without interference by authorities in order to put an end to the violation it found in Sorli's case.

(Additional reporting by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Dominic Evans)