Gollum Meme Lands Man in Court Facing Jail

Local Editor

Ah, the decisions that judges must make.

A Turkish judge must decide if Gollum, the character from "The Lord of the Rings" films, is a good guy or a villain.

A man's freedom hinges on that decision, The Telegraph reported.

According to The Telegraph, Bilgin Ciftci, a Turkish doctor, stands accused of sharing a meme that compared Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Gollum.

The judge said he had only seen parts of the movie, Turkish media reported, so he found five experts to help weigh in.

The group, which is said to include two academics, two behavioral experts and a movie and television production expert, will help him decide if Gollum is a good guy or a villain.

They have two and a half months to look at unspecified evidence.

Ciftci lost his job over the trial and could face jail time.

More than 200 people have been investigated for "insulting the head of state" between August 2014 and March 2015, The Telegraph found.

A newspaper editor was arrested in October for insulting Erdogan on Twitter and a former Miss Turkey was also accused in a different case.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team