ECHR sentences Turkey in freedom of speech cases

Insulting the president, a tool commonly deployed by Ankara to reprimand critics of the government, insult charges often concern comments about the president, although citizens have been accused of insulting the government's values as well.

On June 15, the European Court of Human Rights ECHR ruled that the Turkish judiciary's 2012 conviction of a student for “insulting” the then Prime Minister Erdogan violated his rights.

In a separate ruling, the court also ruled that Turkey had violated a civil servant's right by dismissing her for “liking” political statements shared by others on Facebook.

The first case involved a contract employee of the Turkish Ministry of National Education who added the word “Like” to certain content on Facebook, specifically criticizing the alleged repressive practices of the Turkish authorities or encouraging demonstrations against these practices.

The seven judges of the European Court of Human Rights unanimously agreed that the dismissal of the employee violated the right to freedom of speech guaranteed in Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Turkey was ordered to pay the former employee a “non-pecuniary loss” of 2,000 euros.

The second case involved a student who gave a speech in 2012 in support of a student detained by the police for opposing the then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s entry into the university campus.

The seven judges once again unanimously condemned Turkey’s violation of freedom of speech and ordered it to pay the student 2,000 euros in compensation.

Turkish prosecutors have launched investigations into a total of 128,872 citizens between 2014 and 2019 on charges of "insulting" President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, while some 27,717 lawsuits were filed on the same accusation. 

Out of the 27,717 cases, some 903 were concerning minors and 9,556 were handed convictions.