German comedian Jan Böhmermann usually records his highly popular satire show Neo Magazin Royal in a Cologne television studio on Thursdays. This week, however, the show has been cancelled and Böhmermann is at home under police guard amid an escalating legal row with Turkey.
The television host faces legal action on two fronts for deliberately insulting the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on air. Mr Erdogan has filed a criminal complaint and has also asked Berlin to evaluate whether there are grounds for a second complaint.
Two weeks ago Böhmermann read out a poem suggesting the Turkish leader, among other things, had kebab breath and enjoyed sex with goats.
Crude lines
The satirist indicated two reasons for his crude lines – dubbed
Smear Poem
. First, to protest at Ankara summoning the German ambassador over previous jokes at Mr Erdogan’s expense by another German television show.
Second, to draw attention to limits on freedom of expression in Germany because of little-used paragraphs that forsee fines or a prison sentence of up to five years for insulting a foreign head of state.
The legal row has created a political and legal minefield for Chancellor Angela Merkel. At first she appeared to criticise Böhmermann’s poem as “deliberately offensive” in a phone call with Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
The German leader is anxious to keep Ankara onside as a partner to an EU refugee swap deal Germany hopes will resolve the migration crisis.
But as the row escalated this week, and Dr Merkel came under pressure at home, she appeared to revise her position by insisting that guarantees on freedom of expression in Germany “apply regardless of all the political problems that we discuss . . . and that includes the issue of refugees”.
Lose-lose situation
Facing a lose-lose situation – either on freedom of expression or relations with Turkey – Dr Merkel’s government is examining whether it accedes to Ankara’s demand and pass on the case to the state prosecutor. Mr Erdogan has also filed a separate criminal complaint as a private individual.
German lawyers say Böhmermann is in legal hot water because the laws he was challenging do not recognise the intention but merely the words used to insult a head of state.
Complicating matters further is that the laws Mr Erdogan has invoked speak of an insult without providing a clear definition.
