Turkish comedian Deniz Göktaş sentenced to prison and released

An Istanbul court has sentenced Turkish comedian Deniz Göktas to around seven months in prison for “denigrating religious values” and to around eleven months in prison for insulting the president. At the same time, the court acquitted him on Monday of the charge of "glorifying crimes and criminals" and ordered his release from custody, as the private news agency Demirören reported.

The complainant in this process was, among others, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Since minor prison sentences usually do not have to be served, the artist was expected to be released later in the day.

The 32-year-old Göktas was arrested at the beginning of July and has been in custody in the Karatepe maximum security prison ever since. He was arrested after returning from vacation at Istanbul Airport. He was already expecting to be arrested at the time, he explained in the courtroom, according to the opposition newspaper Birgün. Nevertheless, he counts himself among those who wanted to convince young people not to leave Turkey. The police who arrested him were also surprised about his return, he said.

Among other things, he was accused of making jokes about women who go swimming in the sea wearing Islamic conservative swimwear. The indictment also stated that Göktas praised a criminal group and described Turkish President Erdoğan as a "dictator." He denied all allegations and said that he had previously performed the show in many places and that there were only complaints after the video was published. The video was viewed millions of times.