Hüsnü Mahalli who was taken into custody for insulting statesmen by his social media posts was arrested by the court on 15 December 2016. On 20 January 2017, İstanbul 6th Assize Criminal Court decided on releasing him pending trial due to the amount of time he spent in prison, the lack of possibility of escape and the length of the demanded sentence. Further, the court delivered the case to İstanbul 2nd Assize Criminal Court since it is the court with jurisdiction for crimes committed through media.
On 8 November 2018, the Istanbul 2 Assize Criminal Court found Mahalli guilty for insulting the President and sentenced him to 2 years 5 months 5 days imprisonment. He was also found guilty for insulting a public officer and was sentenced to 1 year 8 months 25 days imprisonment. The pronouncement of the judgement was suspended.