Turkish man convicted for throwing eggs at PM -TV

ANKARA, Apr 13 (Reuters) A Turkish man who threw eggs at Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was given a 14-month suspended jail sentence today, CNN Turk television said.

Murat Bektasoglu, head of a community centre in the Black Sea city of Trabzon, hurled the eggs at Erdogan in protest at government policies, when the prime minister visited the city last summer.

A second defendant, who told the court they were simply exercising their constitutional right to protest, walked free, CNN Turk said.

Erdogan has fired off numerous lawsuits against those he feels have insulted him since becoming prime minister in 2003.

A court recently rejected a claim for damages Erdogan made against a satirical magazine for publishing drawings of his face attached to various animals, including a frog and a monkey.

Last year, he successfully sued a cartoonist for making fun of the government's difficulties with passing laws by portraying him as a cat entangled in a ball of yarn.

Turkey is under pressure from the European Union, which it hopes to join, to expand and better protect individual and press freedoms.

REUTERS DKS BST009