By David Gauthier-Villars

ISTANBUL--A Turkish court has acquitted the head of HSBC Holdings PLC's (HSBC) unit in Turkey of a charge of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The court acquitted HSBC Turkey Chief Executive Selim Kervanci on Thursday on the grounds that there had been no criminal intent on his part, according to the defendant's lawyer and state news agency Anadolu.

Before the verdict, Mr. Kervanci said he had never sought to insult Mr. Erdogan.

Mr. Erdogan has used Turkish law, which criminalizes insults against a person's honor with maximum penalties of four years in prison, to silence opponents and critics.

In Mr. Kervanci's case, prosecutors weighed whether the banker's June 2, 2013 re-tweet of a post that contained a link to a film on Adolf Hitler, could be regarded as an insult against Mr. Erdogan, who was prime minister at the time.

Mr. Kervanci told the court he had not reviewed the content of the video before forwarding it, his lawyer, Deniz Ketenci, said.

HSBC officials in Turkey declined to comment.

Write to David Gauthier-Villars at david.gauthier-villars@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 11, 2019 07:41 ET (11:41 GMT)

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