Turkish court to judge Gollum's character in Erdogan case

A Turkish court has ordered a committee of experts to judge whether Lord of the Rings character Gollum is "good or bad", in a bizarre trial involving Turkey's leader.

It comes after Bilgin Ciftci, a Turkish doctor, juxtaposed pictures of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with the fictional subterranean creature on social media.

If found guilty, Ciftci could spend two years behind bars for insulting a state official.

	The image has done the rounds on social media

The committee of psychologists and movie experts will be asked by the court to access Gullum's character.

Gollum is a character in JRR Tolkien's fantasy novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, who becomes corrupted by a magical ring which grants the character an extended life.

He refers to the ring as "my precious". 

Gollum is shown to be hugely possessive of the ring, but also wanting to rid himself of his reliance on the band. 

Lawyer Hicran Danisman told AP that she was forced to argue in court this week that "Gollum is not a bad character" because she got "nowhere" with a defence case based on freedom of expression.

Erdogan has been criticised for his growing authoritarianism ruling Turkey, along with a crackdown on journalists.

Between August 2014 and March 2015, 236 people were investigated for "insulting the head of state" in Turkey with 105 of them were formally indicted, according to the BBC.