German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday authorised criminal proceedings sought by Turkey against a German TV comedian over a crude satirical poem about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that has sparke
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday authorised criminal proceedings sought by Turkey against a German TV comedian over a crude satirical poem about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that has sparked a bitter row over free speech.
In a surprise decision that exposed rifts within Ms Merkel’s government, she said the German judiciary would now have to decide whether the popular comic, Jan Boehmermann, could be convicted under rarely enforced lese-majeste legislation.
“The government will give its authorisation in the case at hand,” Ms Merkel said on national television.
A probe under section 103 of the criminal code — insulting organs or representatives of foreign states — can only go forward with the approval of the federal government.
The offence can carry a punishment of up to three years in prison.
Ms Merkel said the government agreed it would scrap what many labelled an outdated statute by 2018 as a result of the embarrassing affair.
Ankara this month filed a formal request for a criminal inquiry to be launched in Germany against Mr Boehmermann, who accus-ed Mr Erdogan of bestiality and paedophilia in the so-called “Defamatory Poem”.
Mr Boehmermann gleefully admitted he was flouting Germany’s legal limits on free expression, but has kept a lower profile since the furore erupted.
The comedian was reacting to Ankara’s decision in March to summon Germany’s envoy in protest at another satirical song broadcast on German TV which lampooned Mr Erdogan in far tamer language.
