 |
| Turkish President, Tayyip Erdogan |
A court in Turkey on Friday sentenced a filmmaker to six years in prison for producing a feature film that portrayed President Tayyip Erdogan having a gun pointed in his head as his family lay dead all around him, the state news agency said.
Ali Avci was arrested in 2017 after the release of a trailer for his film “Awakening”, based on a failed military putsch in 2016 in which more than 250 people were killed.
 |
| Ali Avci |
An Istanbul court sentenced Avci to six years and
three months in jail for belonging to the network of U.S.-based cleric,
Fethullah Gulen, deemed a terrorist organisation by Turkey.
The court said Avci had been carrying out “public perception management in line with the core goals of the terrorist organisation” through his movie.
Avci denied the charges and said Erdogan himself had repeatedly said he was the target of the failed putsch, which included air strikes on the presidential palace in Ankara, although Erdogan was absent at the time.
“If I was trying to make terrorist propaganda, I would have shown Erdogan making plans to flee, instead of the praying scene,” Avci told the court.
More than 50,000 people have been jailed pending trial and 150,000 state workers including teachers, judges and soldiers have been suspended or dismissed after the coup attempt.
Reuters/LRNews
Post A Comment: