( CNN ) A court in Turkey this week sentenced two cartoonists to 11 months and 20 days in prison for insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan . Soon after , the court changed the jail sentence to a fine of 7,000 Turkish lira or about $ 2,700 each . Cartoonists Bahadir Baruter and Ozer Aydogan draw for the weekly satirical magazine Penguen . Founded in 2002 with a weekly average of 65,000 readers , the irreverent comic book -- similar in many ways to the French magazine Charlie Hebdo -- regularly skewers Turkish politicians . A defamation suit was filed against an August cover of Penguen in which a cartoon figure of Erdogan is welcomed to the presidential palace by a public servant . Erdogan tells him , `` But this is so dry . We could have at least slaughtered a journalist . '' In a statement to the press , the Penguen team explained that a citizen who described himself as an Erdogan supporter `` sent an email to the Prime Ministry Information Center . ... According to the notice , the employee ( in the cartoon ) 'made the gay signal with his fingers . ' `` Turkey 's public prosecutor eventually launched an investigation , claiming that both the speech bubbles and the `` hand drawing '' insulted Erdogan . While the court ruled Wednesday in favor of Erdogan , a full-length explanation of the verdict will be released in a week to 10 days . It is so far unclear whether the judge ruled that the speech bubbles or the `` gay hand gesture '' or both were an insult . The ruling comes amid an increase in criminal cases lodged against journalists , students and public figures for `` defamation against a public officer . '' In 2014 , Turkey was ranked one of the world 's worst jailers of journalists by the media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders and its press status `` not free '' by Freedom House . The Council of Europe 's commissioner for human rights , Nils Muižnieks , expressed his concern about the ruling against Penguen as well as the surge in criminal cases against people accused of insulting Erdogan . `` This sentence is misguided and , along with a pattern of criminal prosecutions , sends a chilling message to media professionals and all those who want to exercise their right to free expression , '' Muižnieks said . Ann Harrison of freedom of press advocacy group PEN International told CNN , `` We have long called for decriminalization of defamation , particularly of state officials , as to criminalize criticism of authorities severely stifles reporting and public debate . '' Harrison noted that special mandates from the United Nations , Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and Organization of American States have called for the abolishment of criminal defamation laws . Penguen announced it will appeal the decision . The magazine also defiantly released a new cartoon mocking the case . `` We will continue drawing our cartoons , '' Penguen announced in a statement . `` We hope this case will be the last example of the intimidation effort on free thought . ''
Court fines two cartoonists for insulting Turkish President Nils Muižnieks . Weekly satirical magazine Penguen says it will appeal the decision . Press advocates express concern about criminal defamation laws in Turkey .