Recep Tayyip Erdogan was not amused when a citizen used social media to compare the Turkish president to "Lord of the Rings" character Gollum, and a local court must now decide whether the juxtaposition of images of the head of state with those of the slimy creature constitutes an insult.

To do that, a judge has summoned five experts in psychology, behavioral science and other fields to determine if the J.R.R. Tolkien character is evil -- and not just creepy, clammy and possessed by his desire for the ring, Foreign Policy reported.

Erdogan is suing Bilgin Ciftci, a physician from the Turkish city of Aydin who was already fired from the Public Health Institution of Turkey for the unflattering comparison. If convicted of insulting a public figure, Ciftci face up to two years in jail, and the doctor appeared in court in southern Turkey on Tuesday, the magazine detailed.

"The prosecutor didn't watch the movie, and he defined Gollum as 'the monster in a bad role,'" said Hicran Danisman, Ciftci's lawyer. "But we said Gollum can't be defined as evil. The character itself is a war between good and bad. He is basically seen as a victim of society."

Aydin Judge Murad Saz now wants to hear from experts, including two academics, two psychologists or behavioral scientists, as well as a movie or television expert, NBC News reported. "I am very surprised by the decision of the judge," Danisman admitted.

The judge himself, meanwhile, admitted to only having seen parts of the "Lord of the Rings" films in which Gollum appears, the Independent reported. The 47-year-old Ciftci, meanwhile, appears stunned by the somewhat surreal affair, the newspaper added.

The doctor was "very surprised" when he learned he would be prosecuted in the first place, adding that the who case suggests that his country is going through "a very difficult time."

"I see it as a question of freedom of speech and of humor," Ciftci said. "I don't think I've done anything to regret," the defendant added.

Peter Jackson, director of the "Lord of the Rings" triology, along with screenwriters Fran Walsh and Phillippa Boyens provided The Wrap with a statement concerning the trial, arguing that Erdogan was not compared to Gollum but Smeagol.

"If the images below are in fact the ones forming the basis of this Turkish lawsuit, we can state categorically: None of them feature the character known as Gollum. All of them are images of the character called Smeagol," they said in the statement, explaining that Smeagol was not evil.