Turkish court sentences opposition figure to nearly 10 years in jail

Turkish court sentences opposition figure to nearly 10 years in jail
Turkish court sentences opposition figure to nearly 10 years in jail

A Turkish court on Friday sentenced a prominent oppositionofficial to nine years and eight months in prison for insulting the presidentand spreading terrorist propaganda, a lawmaker from the main opposition partysaid.

The Republican People's Party (CHP) said Canan Kaftancioglu,head of its Istanbul branch and one of the strongest opposition voices withinthe party, will not immediately go to jail pending appeals.

The indictment also accused Kaftancioglu of insulting thegovernment and public servants, inciting hatred and enmity, mostly on the basisof tweets posted between 2012 and 2017.

Turkey's lira briefly weakened to 5.7250 against the dollar from5.70 when the court decision was announced, before recovering most of thatloss.

Kaftancioglu played a significant role in municipal elections inIstanbul which saw the CHP take over the mayoralty, which had been held byPresident Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party and its Islamist predecessors for the last25 years.

Speaking outside Istanbul's main courthouse following theverdict, Kaftancioglu said that it would not silence her.

"Neither you all, nor I deserved this. If the court rulingis not in line with the law and is shaped by the wishes of the political power,it means there is no law in this country," she told reporters.

"The cases opened are concluded not in the courtrooms butin the rooms of the (presidential) palace," she added. A crowd ofsupporters chanted: "Shoulder to shoulder against fascism."

The appeals court will deliver a verdict within six months andthen the decision can be appealed with the Court of Cassation, Turkey's highestappeals court, the CHP said.Since her appointment last year as the CHP's provincial head,Kaftancioglu has been heavily criticised by members of Erdogan's AK Party.

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