Turkey has made a formal request to Germany to prosecute the TV satirist Jan Boehmermann for reading an obscene poem about President Erdogan. Boehmermann made clear before he read the poem that it contained allegations that breached German rules on free speech. Germany prosecutors launched a preliminary inquiry, as insulting foreign leaders is considered illegal.
Broadcaster ZDF has said it will stand by Boehmermann.
Comment on BBC news
Tag Archives: Eastern and Western European States, USA, Canada
Toolkit on Artistic Freedom of Expression published in Turkey
The toolkit was prepared by Siyah Bant and Istanbul Bilgi University Human Rights Law Research Center and contains suggestions for Turkish artists and art institutions on how to pursue legal remedies when their right to artistic freedom is violated. The toolkit comprises two sections. The first part, “Legal Framework,” outlines the basic parameters of the freedom of expression in the arts as well as information about Turkish and international legislation regarding the freedom of artistic expression. The second part, “Practical Information and Recommendations,” contains sample cases adapted from actual stories of censorship, and roadmaps that artists and arts institutions can follow when they encounter repression of their rights to freedom of expression.
A digital copy of the toolkit in Turkish is available for download at the website of Siyah Bant.
Source: Siyah Bant press relaease
Turkey ‘demands deletion’ of German video mocking Erdoğan
The complaints centre on a two-minute song which was broadcast by the TV channel NDR on 17 March and can still be seen on broadcaster ARD’s website and on social media. The German ambassador to Turkey has been summoned to the Turkish foreign ministry. Germany’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that the German Ambassador in Turkey “made clear in these conversations that the rule of law, independence of the judiciary and protection of fundamental freedoms, including freedom of the press and freedom expression, are valuable goods that must be protected together”.
Sources: The Guradian, The Washington Post
Croatia: Public Appeal to the Government for the dismissal of the minister of culture
The recently established Croatian Government appointed Mr. Zlatko Hasanbegović as minister of culture. He unambiguously glorified the Ustasha movement and advocated the establishment of the Greater Croatia in the magazine ‘The Independent State of Croatia’ published during the 1990s. He also referred to anti-fascism as an empty phrase in a public appearance on national television, six months before his appointment to the position of minister of culture.
More than 4.000 artists and cultural workers signed alerady a public appeal to the Croatian government to to dismiss Mr. Hasanbegović and to support an idea of culture free from ideological misconceptions, conservatism, nationalism and intolerance.
Fear for detained performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky
Performance artist Pyotr Pavlensky 
was charged with vandalism for setting fire to the main doors of the headquarters of the Federal Security Service on 9 November. On 26 January he was detained in a psychiatric hospital in Moscow and is being denied access to his lawyer and the outside world. His wife fears for his health.
On 3 February the Tagansky district court in Moscow extended his detention to 5 March. (Photo: Aleksandr Zhunev)
Amnesty International has a report and calls for appeals before 24 March.
Two pupeteers imprisoned in Madrid
On February 6th, Alfonso Lázaro an Raúl García from the group Títeres desde Abajo (Puppets from Below), Granada (Spain), have been imprisoned for a street theatre show, wrongly programmed by the organizers of the Madrid carnival as a family show. The show by the company falls into a very specific tradition, that of knockabout glove puppets, found all over Europe and descended from the Neapolitan Pulcinella. After a blown up campaign in the press and the social networks, based on the accusation that the show justifies terrorism, both puppeteers were imprisoned without bail.
A petition on change.org to free Raúl and Alfonso has alerady more than 51.000 signatures.
Update: Alfonso and Raúl have been released from jail on February 10. Both are still under indictment. A 1:25 min video from that scene of the show which led to governmental intervention is on youtube.
Sources: Puppetring , El Mundo