Germany Could Charge Comic for Insulting Turkey’s President
▻https://theintercept.com/2016/04/12/germany-charge-comic-insulting-turkeys-president
In her remarks on Tuesday, Merkel said that the German authorities, including her office, were “very carefully” considering the request from Turkey to prosecute Böhmermann, and promised that the investigation would be concluded within days. The chancellor also seemed to acknowledge the delicacy of the diplomatic situation, by noting the importance of a recently struck deal with Turkey to accept refugees deported from the European Union. But, she said, cooperation with Turkey on that issue “is completely independent of fundamental rights in Germany,” including, Merkel noted, Article Five of the German constitution, which guarantees “freedom of the press, opinion and academia.”
Despite that provision, Germany, like many European countries, does impose legal limits on free speech that ban certain kinds of statements, including Holocaust denial and the promotion of Nazi ideology, but also “defamation of the President, insult of the Federal Republic, its states, the flag, and the national anthem.”