A court in Macedonia has found a Macedonian and Turkish citizen guilty of insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on his Facebook page, and fined him Macedonian denars equivalent to approximately 400 euros, reported RIA Novosti news agency of Russia.In case of avoidance of payment of this fine, it can be commuted to a prison sentence.

The plaintiff was the Turkish ambassador to Skopje, who noted that damage was caused to not solely Erdoğan, but the standing of the Turkish state.This verdict is the first of its kind in Macedonia, and it has caused quite a stir in the country.

Attorney Filip Medarski said, however, that under the Macedonian Criminal Code, the defendant could have been tried only if the insults applied to the office of the president, and not the person of Erdoğan. In his view, this decision contradicts the norms of the European Court of Human Rights.