A 28-year-old man in Turkey was fined TL 7,600 for spitting on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s official car, in a case in which he faced two years in prison for “insulting a public official.”
A case was opened against Fatih Koçkesen on charges of insulting then-Prime Minister Erdoğan by spitting on his official car, which was parked in front of Eyüp Sultan mosque in İstanbul on July 11, 2014. An indictment that was filed against him by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office was seeking up to two years imprisonment.
During his testimony at the court, Koçkesen reportedly said he spit on a car he thought to be that of Erdoğan to protest against the then-prime minister, whom he held responsible for a mine accident in Soma that left 301 workers dead.
The case was concluded in a hearing held at an İstanbul courthouse on Thursday. The court ordered Koçkesen to pay TL 7,600 on charges of “insulting a public official.”
The case comes amidst reports that Erdoğan has filed complaints on charges of “insulting” him against a total of 236 people in the 227 days since he was elected president in the election held on Aug. 10, 2014.