ISTANBUL, Turkey — A senior member of
Turkey’s main opposition party was jailed Tuesday
following a conviction for having insulted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and
other public officials.
اضافة اعلان
The sentence
against Canan Kaftancioglu, who leads the
Republican People’s Party (CHP) in Istanbul, also bans
her from running in next year’s legislative and presidential elections.
On May 12, the
Supreme Court of Appeals confirmed Kaftancioglu’s conviction on three counts
including over an anti-Erdogan tweet.
Although her
sentence was for four years, 11 months and 20 days, party officials told AFP
she may well be released far sooner, as can happen for sentences shorter than
five years.
Tens of thousands
of people rallied in Istanbul on May 21 to express their support after the
court handed down its sentence.
Kaftancioglu, a
doctor by profession, played a key role in the surprise victory of the CHP’s
Istanbul mayoral candidate
Ekrem Imamoglu in 2019 — the first time Erdogan’s
party had lost power in Turkey’s biggest city for 25 years.
Imamoglu himself
will appear in court on Wednesday on charges of insulting public officials. If
convicted, he faces up to four years in jail.
Political opponents
of Turkey’s
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have accused his administration of
putting pressure on the opposition ahead of next year’s presidential elections.
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