Böhmermann Criticizes Merkel
German satirist Jan Böhmermann has criticized Chancellor Angela Merkel for her response following the publication of his satirical poem. «The chancellor must not waver when it comes to freedom of speech,» he said.
«But instead, she filleted me, served me up for tea to a deranged despot, and turned me into a German Ai Weiwei,» said the 35-year-old ZDF host and Grimme Award winner, who had previously said little about the controversy surrounding his poem.
Now Böhmermann seriously thinks he's Ai Weiwei. So either he's completely out of his mind, or I am!
— Jan Böhmermann (@janboehm) May 3, 2016
Böhmermann made this statement to the weekly newspaper *Die Zeit* (May 4 issue). On Tuesday, Zeit Online published an advance excerpt from it. At the end of March, on his satirical TV show «Neo Magazin Royale» (ZDFneo), Böhmermann had read a poem about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that contained language aimed below the belt. Erdogan filed a criminal complaint for defamation. The Turkish government approached the German government with a formal request for criminal prosecution under Section 103 of the Criminal Code. The section criminalizes insults against organs and representatives of foreign states. For prosecution to proceed, the government must grant authorization. It did so in this case. It is not yet clear whether a trial will actually be initiated. Chancellor Merkel had also initially described Böhmermann’s poem as «deliberately offensive.» She later commented: „In hindsight, that was a mistake.» (SDA)
