Comedian Deniz Göktaş was sentenced to 11 months in prison for insulting Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and an additional seven months for religious denigration

Turkish comedian Deniz Göktaş, 32, was sentenced in Istanbul on Monday to 11 months in prison for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The court also found him guilty of denigrating religious values, imposing an additional seven-month sentence, according to DPA and the Turkish media.

However, the court acquitted him of glorifying crime and criminals and ordered his release from pretrial detention. Göktaş had been detained since July 3, when he was arrested at Istanbul airport upon returning from a holiday. In Turkey, sentences of this length are generally not served in practice, so his release on Monday had been expected.

The case was opened following a complaint filed, among others, by Erdoğan. The investigation focused on jokes made by the comedian in a video that went viral on YouTube, published in June, about women wearing Islamic swimsuits. Prosecutors also accused him of praising a criminal group and calling the president a “dictator.”

Deniz Göktaş denied all the charges. Before the court, he said he expected to be detained upon returning to Turkey, but chose to come back to persuade young people not to leave the country.