Courtesy the artist

Michael Dickinson's collage "Good Boy" (2006) depicts Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan as a dog.

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Good Boy (2006) depicts Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan as a dog with a leash bearing the U.S. stars and stripes and a nuclear missile for a tail. Charges were pressed against Dickinson last October after he showed the poster at the trial of Erkan Kara, organizer of an exhibition staged in opposition to the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq. Kara was on trial over another work by Dickinson, showing Erdoğan as a dog being given a rosette by President Bush.

The judge disagreed with a testimonial saying the later work was more "political criticism" than "insult," but acknowledged that work of this sort is common in Europe, where cartoonists often depict politicians as pigs or other animals. He concluded that because Turkey is trying to join the European Union, Dickinson should not be charged of a crime.

Conviction could have brought a two-year jail sentence.

Dickinson, a member of the Stuckists art group, whose founder, Charles Thomson, has campaigned over the case, said: "My lawyer and I might talk later about possible compensation for the discomfort I suffered, but at the moment I'm just trying to let it sink in that I don't have to worry about this any more.

He added that he hopes "that my acquittal might have an effect on the decisions of the judges of the many other cases where Turkish writers and artists face criminal charges for having expressed their opinions in writing, speech or art."

Good Boy is currently on display at A Gallery in Wimbledon.