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April 16, 2016

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Merkel allows criminal probe into Erdogan poem

Source: AFP | April 16, 2016, Saturday | Print Edition

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday authorized 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 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 authorization in the case at hand,” Merkel said in a hastily arranged statement broadcast live 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.

Merkel said the government agreed it would scrap what many labelled an outdated statute by 2018 as a result of the embarrassing affair.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 Boehmermann, who accused Erdogan of bestiality and paedophilia in the so-called “Defamatory Poem.”

Boehmermann gleefully admitted he was flouting Germany’s legal limits on free expression, but has kept a lower profile since the furor erupted.

The comedian was reacting to Ankara’s decision last month to summon Germany’s ambassador in protest at another satirical song broadcast on German TV which lampooned Erdogan in far tamer language.

Merkel, who had previously called Boehmermann’s poem “deliberately insulting”, had pledged Turkey’s request would be “very carefully” examined, even as she underlined the German constitution’s guarantees of “freedom of expression, academia and of course the arts.”

Yesterday she said her government, after heated internal debate, had concluded that only the judiciary should decide whether Boehmermann had committed a criminal offence.

“In a state under the rule of law, it is not a matter for the government but rather for state prosecutors and courts to weigh personal rights issues and other concerns affecting press and artistic freedom,” she said.

Merkel stressed Berlin’s decision did not amount to a “prejudgement” on his legal culpability and that “prosecutors and courts” would have the last word.

German prosecutors last week opened a preliminary probe against Boehmermann, 35, after complaints by dozens of viewers.

The case comes at an awkward time as Europe is relying on Turkey to implement a pact spearheaded by Merkel to curb the flow of migrants to Europe.

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