German prosecutors have said they have dropped their investigation into a TV comic who wrote a crude poem about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, citing insufficient evidence that he committed any crime.
In April, German Chancellor Angela Merkel accepted a Turkish request to allow the possible prosecution of Jan Böhmermann for insulting a foreign head of state. German law required the government to grant permission before prosecutors could consider whether to press charges.
Böhmermann 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 about Erdoğan.
Prosecutors in Mainz, where ZDF is based, said in a statement on Oct. 4 that “criminal actions could not be proven with the necessary certainty.”