If Gollum is a good guy, he’s innocent
LONDON — Is Gollum from Lord of the Rings a good guy or a bad apple? That’s what experts must help a Turkish judge decide in the trial of Turkish doctor Bilgin Ciftci, accused of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with a meme comparing him to the character from J.R.R. Tolkein’s fantasy series, Turkish media reports.
The judge appointed five experts — two academics, two behavioural experts and a cinema expert — after admitting he had only seen parts of the film series, according to Turkish news agency DHA.
The panel will be given two and a half months to review the evidence; it is unclear what criteria they will use.
Ciftci, who lost his job as a result of the trial, denies the comparison to Gollum is an insult, seemingly supporting the view of some LOTR fans who say Gollum was the real hero of the series.
His lawyer Hicran Danisman joked the trial has turned into “a case of saving the pride of Gollum.”
Insulting the president is a crime punishable by prison in Turkey, with more than 200 people investigated for “insulting the head of state” between August 2014 and March 2015.