Comedian Could Face 3 Years In German (Not Turkish!) Jail For Mocking Notoriously Thin-Skinned Turkish President
from the insulting-organs-or-representatives-of-foreign-states dept
Techdirt has been following with interest the ways in which the delicate sensibility of Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is being wounded. First there was Gollum; then the filing of 1,845 cases of allegedly insulting the Turkish President; and finally, a mild satirical video that Erdoğan didn't want you to see. The last of these not only caused the Streisand Effect to kick in with a vengeance, but has provoked a German comedian to take things up a notch, as reported here by the Guardian:
In a short clip from a late-night programme screened on the German state broadcaster ZDF at the end of last month, comedian Jan Böhmermann sits in front of a Turkish flag beneath a small, framed portrait of Erdoğan, reading out a poem that accuses the Turkish president of, among other things, "repressing minorities, kicking Kurds and slapping Christians while watching child porn".
Exactly as Böhmermann doubtless intended, this has caused a huge political stink. The broadcaster ZDF took down the video, and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, told Turkey's prime minister that the poem was a "deliberately offensive text" that she personally disapproved of. Most significantly, the Turkish government has filed a formal request for Böhmermann's prosecution. So what? you might ask. Germany isn't Turkey, and so surely there's no way that somebody would be prosecuted just for a few rude lyrics about a foreign leader. Well, it turns out that's not the case:
On 6 April it emerged that Germany's state prosecutor was investigating Böhmermann for violation of the little-used paragraph 103 of the criminal code, which concerns insulting organs or representatives of foreign states. At worst the comedian was facing a prison sentence of up to three years.
Although some people in Germany have condemned Böhmermann for being coarse, an attention-seeker and even racist, Merkel does not want to be seen as a world leader who harms freedom of speech:
In a government press conference on Monday, [Merkel's spokesperson] Seibert said Merkel wanted to make it unequivocally clear that freedom of speech was "naturally the highest good", irrespective of whether she considered a satirical piece "tasteful or tasteless".
On the other hand, Merkel desperately needs Turkey's help in dealing with the huge numbers of refugees from the Middle East flooding into southern Europe. A deal between the EU and Turkey has been agreed to help address this problem, although doubts remain about whether it is a realistic solution. In any case, Erdoğan is in a very strong position -- and knows it. This really puts Merkel and the German government on the spot, and it will be intriguing to see how -- or even if -- they manage to reconcile the conflicting pressures.
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Filed Under: free speech, germany, insults, jokes, recep tayyip erdogan, satirejan bohmermann, turkey
Companies: zdf
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Re:
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Great Example
But as you can see here, Germany is hardly a free state anyways. Germany is working overtime to destroy itself! What a bunch of fucking toons!
You just cannot make this shit up!
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Re: Great Example
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Re: Great Example
That is not what's going on here, it's Germany applying German laws in Germany.
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Politics trumps the public interest
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RIP EU
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Re: RIP EU
But hey, we petty plebs need to shut up and be ruled over!
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Re: Re: RIP EU
Oh absolutely, as a bit of realpolitik it's brilliant. It's just contrary to the values claimed by the entity he wishes to join.
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Re: Re: Re: RIP EU
Something very nasty is going on with all of this and I am sure it will not turn out well.
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Re: RIP EU
However it is unlikely that it will get that far.
I can't see any British government failing to veto Turkey.
I can't see any Cypriot goverment letting Turkey in until it stops occupying Northern Cyprus.
I can't see any Greek government letting Turkey in without significant concessions to the Orthodox church in Constantinople - eg return of the Hagia Sophia to the church.
Bulgaria, Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary and Romania will also likely have objections - as will several of the other countries that are currently in the process of joining.
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Will they take the high road or not?
Ideally the guy will then spend his community service highlighting how horrible Turkey is in alot of ways. So they want to be European, but still have a religious based goverment? Not going to fly.
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Re: Will they take the high road or not?
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Re: Re: Will they take the high road or not?
Mostly Erdogan has secured that his early cooperation with EU has been overshadowed by a nationalistic Mccarthyistic hunt of Gulen and anyone who is being too negative about him personally.
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Re: Re: Re: Will they take the high road or not?
His agenda - as often happens in countries with an Islamic culture - is to use democracy to establish his own power and then gradually dismantle it. The increasing number of religious laws and his recently tightened grip on the media are evidence of this.
Turkey is transitioning from the secular autocracy established by Ataturk to a religious based one. The secular democracy that Ataturk attempted to bequeath has not survived.
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Re: Re: Will they take the high road or not?
Although the US has lots of laws that are based entirely on religion.
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Re: Re: Re: Will they take the high road or not?
Except in the US they are based on the religion that says "love your enemies" as opposed to the one that says "slay the infidels wherever you can find them".
It does make a difference.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Will they take the high road or not?
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Will they take the high road or not?
An opinion unsustainable by anyone who has actually taken the trouble to find out about either religion.
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/articles/jesus-muhammad.aspx
From the preface:
"It is not the purpose of this site to promote any particular religion,
including Christianity. However, we do enjoy refuting nonsense,
such as the claim that Muhammad and Jesus preached a
morally equivalent message or that all religion is the same."
and it does make a big difference.
Just spend some time in any majority Muslim country that has islamic laws and you will find that one out.
In particular be an atheist in any of the countries listed in this link.
http://www.thewire.com/global/2013/12/13-countries-where-atheism-punishable-death/355961/
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Will they take the high road or not?
Nice job assuming that I haven't done this. Here's a surprise: I actually have. And a lot of people who have studied these things all their lives agree with me -- so your claim that anyone who knows what they're talking about automatically agrees with you is wrong on its face.
As to the rest of your comment, it doesn't really address the issue (or you haven't explained how it does), so there's little point in addressing it. Just to clarify, the issues you've raised are caused by the merging of church and state. Every time that has happened in history (regardless of the religion involved), we have seen this sort of behavior. Yes, it's a terrible thing. No, it's not something that is any more endemic to Islam than it is to any other religion.
I will address one little thing. You apparently assume that I think all religion is the same. This is something I never asserted, nor believe.
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Sucks
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Pawns to the slaughter
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This seems quite easy to resolve
He should then be required to apologize for accusing Edrogan of watching child porn.
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actually, it's even 5 years
An indictment based on this law is only possible if the government consents (§104a StGB) [2].
According to law experts[3] a convictions seems highly unlikely, because there is something called freedom of art. Unlike with freedom of speech/freedom of the press, the german law does not pose any similar restrictions to freedom of art.
Jan Böhmermann meanwhile canceld upcoming events and has been giving police protection! :(
[1]
http://dejure.org/gesetze/StGB/103.html
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&tl =en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fdejure.org%2Fgesetze%2FStGB%2F103.html
[2]
http://dejure.org/gesetze/StGB/104a. html
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fdejure.org%2 Fgesetze%2FStGB%2F104a.html
[3]
https://www.lawblog.de/index.php/archives/2016/04/04/kunstfreiheit-das -ding-ohne-schranken/
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&a mp;hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lawblog.de%2Findex.php%2Farchives%2F2016%2F04%2F04%2Fk unstfreiheit-das-ding-ohne-schranken%2F&edit-text=
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Re: actually, it's even 5 years
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;-)
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Well not if he gives the Precious back to Erdogans, the sly thiefs who stoles it. Gollum, Gollum.
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Re:
What a joke!
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Context or the lack thereof
Linguists call this form of satire ”uneigentliches Sprechen“ which I couldn't find a proper english representation of. Probably something like figurative speech. Anyway, German courts repeatedly found this to be a completely legal form of satire.
Anyway, this entire farce is escalating pretty quickly as intended. Some people even suspect that this entire affair (and especially the German government's hasty reactions — bowing down to the Turkish government and apologizing for this even before a statement by the Turkish gov't was issued) might even trigger a nasty chain reaction for the German gov't themselves. Some people are even speculating that chancellor Merkel might trip over this affair.
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Re: Context or the lack thereof
Eigentlich: https://yourdailygerman.com/2015/03/27/eigentlich-meaning-german-actually/
Probably something like figurative speech.
Sounds right. http://www.dict.cc/german-english/uneigentlich.html
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Re: Re: Context or the lack thereof
I'm still not quite sure if figuratively means the same thing. Uneigentliches Sprechen means that you're basically quoting something that doesn't necessarily reflect your own opinion. Satire does that all the time, for example when confronting the audience with stereotypes to provoke a thought process which usually kicks in after they laugh.
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Law Review, Translations & Link to Original Video
Translating from the admittedly dense Teutonic legalese:
----
§ 103
Beleidigung von Organen und Vertretern ausländischer Staaten
(1) Wer ein ausländisches Staatsoberhaupt oder wer mit Beziehung auf ihre Stellung ein Mitglied einer ausländischen Regierung, das sich in amtlicher Eigenschaft im Inland aufhält, oder einen im Bundesgebiet beglaubigten Leiter einer ausländischen diplomatischen Vertretung beleidigt, wird mit Freiheitsstrafe bis zu drei Jahren oder mit Geldstrafe, im Falle der verleumderischen Beleidigung mit Freiheitsstrafe von drei Monaten bis zu fünf Jahren bestraft.
§ 103
Insulting organs and representatives of foreign states:
(1) Whosoever insults a foreign head of state, or, in relation to their position, a member of a foreign government, who is present in an official capacity in the interior, or the head of a foreign diplomatic legation credentialled in the federal territory, will be punished with prison up to three years or a fine, or, in the case of a slanderous insult, with prison from three months to five years.
----
The crucial clause here is highlighted in bold: whereas ErdoWahn is in fact a foreign head of state, insulting him in Germany is punishable only if done while he is in the country on official state business. If the insult is published while he's outside the country or, for example, enjoying a vacation in it, there is neither crime nor punishment. The same applies to a member of his government, insofar as the insult relates to their job performance, or to an Ambassador to Germany.
Indeed, this whole paragraph is sometimes abbreviated under the rubric 'Insulting a foreign dignitary during an official visit'.
So there is literally nothing for the German authorities to 'investigate' further than checking whether Erdogan was present in Germany on the date of the poem's publication, which he was, in fact, not. End of contrived legal conundrum!
To celebrate, here's a literal translation of the [in Germany] perfectly legal poem in question:
“Abusive Criticism"
Dumb as balls, cowardly and a prude
is Erdoğan, the President.
His junk stinks severely of döner-kebab,
even a pig’s fart smells nicer.
He is the man who beats little girls
while wearing rubber masks.
His favourite pursuit is fucking goats
and repressing minorities,
kicking Kurds, striking Christians
as he watches kiddie-porn flicks.
And even in the evenings, instead of sleep,
he calls for fellatio with one hundred sheep.
Yes, Erdoğan is fully and completely
a President with a small dick.
One hears every Turk whistling,
this dumb pig has shrivelled 'nads.
From Ankara to Istanbul
everyone knows, this man is gay,
perverse, lousy and a zoophile —
Recep Fritzl Priklopil.*
His head as empty as his nuts,
he’s the star of every gang-bang party,
until the cock burns when pissing,
that is Recep Erdoğan, the Turkish President.
* a play on names, associating Erdoğan with the infamous Austrian paedophiles Josef Fritzl and Wolfgang Priklopil.
... and here is the original video, as broadcast by German state TV channel ZDF on 31 March 2016, with Turkish captioning of the poem:
http://sendvid.com/ap13zv47
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Re: Law Review, Translations & Link to Original Video
I'm sure that some lawyers would try to interpret that sentence in a way that the has-to-be-present part doesn't apply. At least we now know why this paragraph is called the Shah's paragraph.
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Re: Law Review, Translations & Link to Original Video
You read it as if it was a list which is later in full referenced by the clause about location. But it isn't a list. The repetition of the personal pronoun shows that it's two partial sentences being connected by "oder", which means that the clause about location only applies locally in the second partial sentence.
On the first reading of the article a few days ago I also though he was safe but then realized that for heads of state or indeed leaders of embassies the position does not matter, only for other members of foreign governements.
I will now for the benefit of non-German speaking readers correct the sentence structure of your translation:
(1) Whosoever insults a foreign head of state, or whosoever in relation to their position, insults a member of a foreign government, who is present in an official capacity in the interior, or insults the head of a foreign diplomatic legation credentialled in the federal territory, will be punished with prison up to three years or a fine, or, in the case of a slanderous insult, with prison from three months to five years.
It would be even better if there was a way to leave out the repetition of insults but I think it sounds a bit like Lincoln or some other historic character if I do since pushing the verb to the back in English is kind of old timey like for example "Whoever a fair lady insults, shall meet my sword" while still meaning that the lady is the one being insulted not the one insulting.
It would give something like this:
(1) Whosoever a foreign head of state, or whosoever in relation to their position, a member of a foreign government, who is present in an official capacity in the interior, or the head of a foreign diplomatic legation credentialled in the federal territory, insults, will be punished with prison up to three years or a fine, or, in the case of a slanderous insult, with prison from three months to five years.
I just hope I got the rules in English right otherwise I might confuse this matter even more.
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Re: Re: Law Review, Translations & Link to Original Video
For clarity I would slightly revise your punctuation:
(1) Whosoever insults a foreign head of state, or whosoever, in relation to their position, insults a member of a foreign government who is present in an official capacity in the interior, or insults the head of a foreign diplomatic legation credentialled in the federal territory, will be punished with prison up to three years or a fine, or, in the case of a slanderous insult, with prison from three months to five years.
The extreme extraterritoriality of this law could become interesting: in theory Germany could at ErdoWahn's request indict, seek to extradite and prosecute anyone in the world who insults him. Combined with the European Arrest Warrant procedure, which requires no evidence of guilt, it would thus be a legal cinch to impose this ridiculous law on the whole of the EU, for a start. If they prosecute Böhmermann there is no good legal reason why they should not also pursue other cases arising for instance from English comedians.
And, in der Tat, it has just been announced that Merkel has approved the prosecution of Böhmermann!
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Re: Re: Re: Law Review, Translations & Link to Original Video
This can be taken as a nod to the courts/prosecutors that a mild outcome is desired in this case.
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Re: Re: Re: Law Review, Translations & Link to Original Video
Good. Not because I approve of the law in question, but because criminal matters are the business of courts. A government having the right to decide nilly-willy whether a dumb law applies or not is even worse than just having a dumb law.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Law Review, Translations & Link to Original Video
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