ISTANBUL
Germany’s Justice Ministry has completed a draft to abolish a criminal
law that enables Germany to try its citizens on charges of insulting foreign
political leaders, Deutsche Welle Turkish reported on April 28.
The draft
to abolish the law, which became contested after it prompted an investigation
into German comedian Jan Böhmermann
for a controversial poem that allegedly insulted Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan, includes the statement that “the idea that foreign state
representatives need special protection against insults does not accord with
the era.”
The draft
also aims to abolish the law that requires the German federal government’s
approval to open a probe into such offenses by the demand of foreign
presidents. Under the current law, the federal government has to authorize
prosecutors to pursue a case against anyone who is accused of insulting a
foreign leader.
German
Chancellor Angela Merkel accepted a request from
Turkey to seek the prosecution of Böhmermann, who read out the poem on German television.
However,
Merkel also announced that, by 2018, Germany would scrap the rarely enforced
section 103 of the criminal code on insulting organs or representatives of
foreign states – under which Böhmermann has been accused – as a result of the
embarrassing affair.
The draft
initially needs to be approved by related ministries and then needs to be
presented to cabinet ministers.
The Mainz
Prosecutor’s Office opened a probe on April 6 against Böhmermann for allegedly
“insulting foreign state representatives and institutions.”
Prosecution
spokesman Gerd Deutschler also said Böhmermann’s program material could amount
to “a violation of section 103 of the [German] criminal code: insulting organs
or representatives of foreign states.”
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