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German gov't allows criminal inquiry against TV satirist over Erdogan poem

Xinhua, April 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

The German government has decided to allow German authorities to launch a criminal investigation into a TV satirist over an insulting poem, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced on Friday.

Speaking at a press conference in Berlin, Merkel made clear that there had been different opinions within Germany's ruling coalition during the discussions on whether to give an authorization to start the inquiry.

"Issuing the permission...does not mean a prejudgment of the person concerned or an anticipatory decision on boundaries of the freedom of art, of the press and of expression," she stressed, adding that not the German government, but the judiciary has the last word in the case.

During a TV show in which Jan Boehmermann, a moderator working at German state broadcaster ZDF, explained what was legal and illegal under German defamation laws, he read a "Defamation Poem" against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which was criticized as being a grave insult by the Turkish side.

Erdogan himself officially filed a criminal complaint against the satirist because of the poem, taking advantage of a German legal provision that criminalizes insulting foreign heads of state.

Speaking of the German-Turkish relations, Merkel said that the two countries were connected with each other closely and friendly.

Meanwhile, the chancellor demanded from Turkey respect and protection of the freedom of expression, of art and of the press.

In addition, Merkel announced on Friday that her government believed the paragraph 103 of Germany's criminal code against insulting foreign leaders was "not necessary for the future as a penal provision for protecting personal honor."

The government, she said, would work on a bill to abolish the paragraph, which is expected to come into effect in 2018. Enditem