Germany decides whether to ban satirical poem that insulted Erdogan
NAN-F-11
Poem
Hamburg, Nov. 2, 2016 (dpa/NAN) A German court on Wednesday began hearing in a civil case against a German comedian accused of insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with a satirical poem.
Jan Boehmermann’s expletive-filled work, aired on German public broadcaster ZDF in March, said Erdogan watched child pornography and had sex with animals, sparking a diplomatic row between Ankara and Berlin.
A court in Hamburg had decided in May to grant a temporary injunction on parts of the poem after an expedited hearing.
It will now consider whether that decision should be replaced with a permanent ban on the entire poem as requested by Erdogan’s lawyer, Michael-Hubertus Sprenger.
A verdict is expected on Feb. 10.
A separate, criminal investigation of Boehmermann, also launched at the request of Erdogan, was dropped last month by German prosecutors, who said the poem was not intentionally slanderous and likely within the bounds of satire.
That investigation was carried out under a little-used statute against insulting foreign heads of state, prompting a heated debate about the limits of free speech in Germany.
During his opening statement, Sprenger said that the prosecutors’ decision to drop the criminal investigation was irrelevant in the context of a civil defamation case.
Berlin and Ankara have been locked in a protracted dispute about Turkey’s human rights record and its controversial path to EU membership.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel referred to the Turkish authorities’ recent arrest of 13 journalists as alarming.
She said that the country’s crackdown on media freedom would have a direct impact on its ambition to join the bloc. (dpa/NAN)
OYE/AFA
Edited by Damilola Oyewole/Felix Ajide
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