The Criminal Court in Skopje has found E.A guilty for insulting the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Facebook, reported the Turkish news agency “Anadolu”.
The court sentenced E.A, who has Macedonian and Turkish citizenship, to a fine of 24,600 denars (400 euros) in the proceedings that were opened after criminal charges were filed by the Turkish Ambassador to the country, Tulin Erkal Kara, late last year .
The court ruled that the defendant, in November, 2016, on his Facebook profile, “published ironical statements and insulted a leader of a foreign country”.
If E.A does not pay the fine, he will have to serve a prison sentence.
Otherwise, according to Article 181 of the Criminal Code of Macedonia, a fine is usually given to “a person who has the intention to publicly ridicule a foreign country, a flag, a coat of arms, an anthem or a head of state or a diplomatic representative”.
