Elijah Wood, Peter Jackson slam Turkey over Gollum trial

Istanbul (dpa) - Elijah Wood and Peter Jackson, the lead actor and director of the Lord of the Rings movies, have slammed Turkey as a doctor is on trial for comparing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the character Gollum.Bilgin Ciftci is accused of insulting the president after sharing a meme which matches pictures of Erdogan with facial expressions of the Gollum character.A court has now ordered a special examination team to determine whether the comparison is indeed an insult. The physician faces up to two years in jail if found guilty, Turkish media reports.Jackson, in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek statement, noted that the character in the meme is not actually Gollum, but Smeagol, a counterpart."Smeagol is a joyful, sweet character. Smeagol does not lie, deceive, or attempt to manipulate others. He is not evil, conniving, or malicious - these personality traits belong to Gollum, who should never be confused with Smeagol," a statement from Jackson said.Meanwhile, Wood, who plays the lead character Frodo Baggins in the franchise based on the book series by JRR Tolkien, weighed on in the issue, expressing concern about free speech."That Bilgin Ciftci faces jail time for comparing Erdogan to Gollum/Smeagol, regardless of whether he‘s good or bad, is horrifying," Wood said on his Twitter feed.The court case continues and is one of numerous pieces of litigation against people in Turkey accused of insulting top-ranking officials, especially Erdogan.