AKIPRESS.COM - A court on Tuesday convicted a former Miss Turkey of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan through social media postings and gave her a 14-month suspended sentence, amid deepening concerns that the country is moving toward an increasingly authoritarian form of rule, NYTimes reports.

The court in Istanbul found Merve Buyuksarac, 27, guilty of insulting a public official, but immediately suspended the sentence on the condition that she does not reoffend within the next five years.

Her lawyer, Emre Telci, said he would file a formal objection to the verdict and appeal her case at the European Court of Justice in Strasbourg, France.

Ms. Buyuksarac, a model, who was crowned Miss Turkey in 2006, was briefly detained last year for sharing a satirical poem on her Instagram account in 2014. Prosecutors considered it insulting to Mr. Erdogan, who was prime minister at the time. She has denied insulting him.