Two Turks jailed for throwing eggs at PM

ISTANBUL - A Turkish court today handed out a jail sentence of nearly 15 months to two men found guilty of throwing eggs at Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

The protesters hurled eggs at Erdogan as he visited the Mediterranean port city of Mersin in February. He was not hit.

The men were accused under an article of Turkey's penal code of insulting a public official as well as staging an unauthorised protest and resisting arrest.

The state Anatolian news agency said the men were sentenced to 14 months and 15 days. Seven other protesters received a suspended sentence of 11 months and 20 days but are not expected to go to jail unless they commit another offence.

Turkish television said the prosecutors had initially sought sentences of up to 13 years for the men, who had been protesting against government policies.

A lawyer for the defendants criticised the verdict and said the case was an issue of free speech.

"We think the prime minister of a country should be open to criticism. If we want to maintain our democratic rights and freedoms, we have to protect this kind of criticism, not punish it, we have to develop our freedoms," CNN Turk television quoted lawyer Ender Buyukculha as saying.

Erdogan has filed a number of lawsuits against his critics, including journalists and cartoonists, sparking criticism from the European Union that he is harming freedom of expression in Turkey. Ankara is negotiating to join the EU.

- REUTERS