Turkish court `orders Gollum study` in Erdogan case

  02 December 2015    Read: 1599
Turkish court `orders Gollum study` in Erdogan case
A Turkish court has asked experts to assess the character Gollum from The Lord of the Rings in the case of a man on trial for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish media report.
Bilgin Ciftci is accused of insulting the president for sharing images comparing Mr Erdogan and Gollum.

The experts will reportedly decide whether or not this was an insult. It is not known precisely what criteria the experts will use to arrive at their decision.
The character of Gollum appears in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy by JRR Tolkien and the film versions directed by Peter Jackson.

He was first introduced in the Hobbit as "a small, slimy creature". In the Lord of the Rings his longing for the ring distorted his body and mind.

The experts will be a group composed of two academics, two behavioural scientists or psychologists and an expert on cinema and television productions, the Today`s Zaman newspaper reports.

The judge took the decision after admitting he had not seen the whole of the Lord of the Rings series in which Gollum features.
The images shared by Mr Ciftci showed Mr Erdogan and Gollum in similar poses eating, expressing surprise and amazement.
The case has now been adjourned until February.



Insulting the president is a crime in Turkey, punishable by prison.

Turkey`s record on freedom of speech and treatment of journalists has come in for criticism in recent years, with Mr Erdogan`s administration seen as being increasingly intolerant of criticism.

Mr Erdogan`s legal team has often backed cases brought by lawyers and private individuals against people who have allegedly insulted him.

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