Image copyright Reuters Image caption Satirist Jan Boehmermann poked fun at Turkey's president in an obscene poem on TV

German prosecutors have dropped an investigation into a TV comedian accused of insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The prosecutors in the western city of Mainz said they had not found sufficient evidence to continue the inquiry against Jan Boehmermann.

In March, Boehmermann recited a satirical poem on TV which made sexual references to Mr Erdogan.

Mr Erdogan then filed a complaint alleging that he had been insulted.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Mr Erdogan has drawn much criticism in Turkey and internationally for attacking political opponents

In a statement on Tuesday, the prosecutors said that "criminal actions could not be proven with the necessary certainty".

It was "questionable", the statement added, whether Boehmermann's poem constituted slander, given the satirical context in which the comedian recited it.

In April, German Chancellor Angela Merkel Germany said her government would allow the potential prosecution of the comedian, triggering criticism that she did not stand up for free speech.

Under German law, the cabinet had to approve a criminal inquiry.

However, Mrs Merkel added that the authorities would move to repeal the controversial and little-used Article 103 of the penal code, which concerns insults against foreign heads of state, by 2018.

Image copyright ZDF Image caption Boehmermann has relentlessly poked fun at German society

Borderline racist or clever satire? By Damien McGuinness, BBC News, Berlin

Was the poem a dangerous, illegal, borderline racist insult? Or was it a clever satire poking fun at German media and the country's outdated legal system? And what is satire anyway?

Given that Jan Boehmermann could, at the request of a controversial foreign leader, conceivably have ended up prison over this gag, these suddenly seemed like very important questions in Germany.

In the end it seems that Boehmermann's head-spinning self-referential irony has made it impossible for a court to say whether he was actually insulting Erdogan or not.

Anyone who says Germans don't have a sense of humour, doesn't know Germany - and has certainly never seen Boehmermann in action.

Irreverent to the point of discomfort, he is so subversive that you're often not sure if he's making fun of himself, someone else or you.

During the height of tensions between Athens and Berlin over the Greek debt crisis Boehmermann portrayed Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis as a vengeful motorbike-riding sex bomb.

But it was in fact his fellow Germans, and the rest of the media establishment, that the comedian was mocking.

A jaunty 1930's-style Springtime for Hitler remake wittily highlighted the similarities between the views of the anti-migrant party AfD and Nazi-era politics.

Even refugee helpers have been fair game, as Boehmermann mercilessly portrayed modern, multi-cultural Germans as an unstoppable horde of muesli-eating, Birkenstock-wearers.

He clearly thinks they're right and the AfD is wrong. But that doesn't stop him making them look ridiculous.

Boehmermann is a satirist and television presenter well-known for pushing the boundaries of German humour.

The poem was broadcast on ZDF television. The comedian was later given police protection.

Mr Erdogan has drawn much criticism in Turkey and internationally for attacking political opponents, including harassment of journalists. Many accuse him of authoritarian methods, stifling legitimate dissent and promoting an Islamist agenda.

A rarely used article of the criminal code

Paragraph 103 of Germany's penal code, on defamation of organs and representatives of foreign states, has the following to say:

(1) Whosoever insults a foreign head of state, or, with respect to his position, a member of a foreign government who is in Germany in his official capacity, or a head of a foreign diplomatic mission who is accredited in the federal territory shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding three years or a fine, in case of a slanderous insult to imprisonment from three months to five years.

The article dates back to the penal code drafted when the German Empire was formed in 1871, although at that time it just applied to monarchs.

It has been little used in recent years and is colloquially known as the "Shah law" among German lawyers after the Shah of Persia successfully brought a case against a Cologne newspaper in 1964.

A Swiss man living in Bavaria was also prosecuted under the article in 2007, after he posted offensive comments about then Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey on the internet.

Criminal code in full (in English)</s>German prosecutors have dropped a controversial case against a comedian accused of criminally “insulting” the Turkish President with a satirical poem.

Jan Böhmermann’s expletive-filled work, aired on German television earlier this year, sparked a diplomatic row between Ankara and Berlin with allusions to bestiality, child sex abuse and ethnic discrimination.

It described Recep Tayyip Erdogan as “stupid, cowardly and uptight” before descending into sexual references and language later described by judges in Hamburg as “abusive and libellous content”.

Introducing it on television, Mr Böhmermann said he was conducting an experiment to illustrate the boundary between legitimate criticism and illegal abusive criticism (Schmähkritik) under German law.

But Angela Merkel controversially granted a request from the Turkish government to open an investigation into whether the satirist had broken a little-used section of Germany’s criminal code, which bans insulting the representatives of international governments.

On Tuesday, the public prosecutor in Mainz said that an investigation had found “no sufficient evidence” of offences committed either by Mr Böhmermann or others involved in the poem’s creation or broadcast.

A statement said the context in which it was delivered made clear the claims were “exaggerated and absurd”, and not meant to be taken as serious allegations against Mr Erdogan.

Prosecutors said it was therefore was “questionable” whether the poem constituted slander, given its satirical nature, and that the “from the lack of earnestness or any seriously intended connection to the personal dignity of (Mr Erdogan), it was meant to be immediately clear to every listener that it was a joke”.

It originally aired on the Neo Magazin Royale programme on 31 March as a response to another satirical German song (“Erdowie, Erdowo, Erdogan”) that provoked outrage from Turkey earlier in the month.

The ensuing political furore became known as the Böhmermann Affair, seeing the Chancellor heavily criticised for allowing the criminal case to be opened as human rights groups voiced their indignation.

Broadcasters at ZDF television withdrew the passage with the poem from its archives but argued that it did not break the law, while a Hamburg court granted a temporary injunction banning “abusive” parts of the work being repeated.

But the poem was read out in full by a German MP during a parliamentary debate and politicians around the world rallied to Mr Böhmermann’s cause.

Among them was Boris Johnson, now the Foreign Secretary, who won a competition for an offensive poem about Mr Erdogan by penning a limerick calling the Turkish President a “wankerer”.

It is an offence to insult the Turkish nation or the national flag but the case was believed to be the only in recent times where such offences had been formally investigated abroad.

Mr Erdogan is known for his sensitivity to criticism, with prosecutors opening more than 1,800 cases against people for alleged insults since he took office in 2014.</s>BERLIN — German prosecutors say they have dropped an investigation of a TV comic who wrote a crude poem about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, citing insufficient evidence that he committed any crime.

In April, the German government granted a Turkish request to allow the possible prosecution of Jan Boehmermann for insulting a foreign head of state. German law required the government to grant permission before prosecutors could consider whether to press charges.

Boehmermann had read the poem on ZDF television to illustrate what he said wouldn't be allowed in Germany, contrasting it with another channel's earlier satirical song that also poked fun at Erdogan and angered Turkey.

Prosecutors in Mainz, where ZDF is based, said in a statement Tuesday that "criminal actions could not be proven with the necessary certainty."</s>German prosecutors on Tuesday dropped an investigation of a TV comic who wrote a crude poem about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, citing insufficient evidence that he committed any crime.

Chancellor Angela Merkel in April granted a Turkish request to allow the possible prosecution of Jan Boehmermann for insulting a foreign head of state. German law required the government to give permission before prosecutors could consider whether to press charges.

Boehmermann had read the poem on ZDF television, to illustrate something he said wouldn't be allowed in Germany. He contrasted it with another channel's earlier satirical song that also poked fun at Erdogan and angered Turkey but was considered acceptable in Germany.

Boehmermann's ditty started by describing the Turkish leader as "stupid, cowardly and uptight" before descending into crude sexual references. ZDF withdrew the passage with the poem from its archives but argued that it didn't break the law.

Prosecutors in Mainz, where ZDF is based, said in a statement Tuesday that "criminal actions could not be proven with the necessary certainty."

They said it was "questionable" whether the poem constituted slander, given the satirical context in which Boehmermann recited it and the fact that it wasn't intended to convey his own view of "personal traits of the Turkish president."

Boehmermann, they said, maintained that he had sought to exaggerate to the extent that "the lack of earnestness and the lack of any seriously intended connection to the personal honor of (Erdogan) were supposed to be immediately evident to every listener."

Prosecutors said they also found no evidence of criminal behavior on the part of other people involved in Boehmermann's program.

The decision to allow Boehmermann's possible prosecution was awkward for Merkel as she sought Ankara's help in reducing Europe's migrant influx but also expressed concern about the state of media freedom in Turkey.

As she announced the decision in April, she underlined the independence of the judiciary and said her government intends to repeal Germany's law criminalizing insults of a foreign head of state, effective in 2018.

In a separate civil case, a Hamburg court in May granted an injunction ordering Boehmermann not to repeat most of the offending poem. A full hearing on that case is due in November.
German prosecutors drop a case against comedian Jan Böhmermann, who had been indicted for a satirical poem about Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.