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The Turkish main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP)'s former leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, was sentenced to 11 months and 20 days in prison on Tuesday.
The Mersin 3rd Criminal Court of First Instance found him guilty of insulting the president under Turkish law, according to Turkish media outlet TGRT News' Ankara Representative Fatih Atik's post on the X platform.
The Mersin 3rd Criminal Court of First Instance announced the verdict in the case brought against Kilicdaroglu on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The sentence of 11 months and 20 days in prison was handed down on Tuesday.
Kilicdaroglu ran against Erdogan in the May 2023 presidential election and lost. He subsequently lost the CHP party chairmanship to Ozgur Ozel at a party congress held after the elections.
Under Ozel's leadership, the party announced that former Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu would be its presidential candidate in the next election.
Imamoglu was arrested in March 2025 during a corruption operation.
Following the arrest, allegations of procedural fraud arose regarding the congress at which Ozel became chairman, with claims that Kilicdaroglu could return to lead the CHP via a court order. No such ruling emerged.
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