Bushido and Arafat Abou-Chaker - this is how the reunion in court went

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Bushido as a joint plaintiff in the courtroom: overdone with his former business partner

Armed policemen with balaclavas block the way to Bushido. The rapper is a joint plaintiff in the trial against Arafat Abou-Chaker and three of his brothers, Nasser, Yasser and Rommel, which began on Monday under increased security in front of the 38th Large Criminal Chamber of the Berlin Regional Court. While clan chief Arafat Abou-Chaker is still strolling into the café across from the courthouse, Bushido and his two lawyers are waiting for the main hearing to begin in a room next to boardroom 500. Four broad-shouldered police officers are posted in front of the room. Bushido fears for his safety and that of his family. The authorities apparently consider his concern to be justified. 

Bushido and Arafat Abou-Chaker were business partners and close friends for 14 years, until Bushido ended their highly lucrative relationship in 2017. It was not an amicable separation. One is now under police protection, the other is a defendant in a criminal trial. 

Accompanied by the police, Bushido, whose real name is Anis Ferchichi, is shown into the hall at 10.40 a.m. The defendants and their defense lawyers have already taken their seats. Everyone stay calm. There is no abuse, no rabble, nothing at all. The Abou-Chakers listen to the indictment presented by the Chief Public Prosecutor Petra Leister in a relaxed or bored manner. Every now and then Arafat and Nasser Abou-Chaker glances at each other. For example when Leister mentions the half-full plastic water bottle with which Arafat Abou-Chaker is said to have hit Bushido in the face. The defendants seem a little amused.

Arafat Abou-Chaker, 44, is charged, among other things, with attempted severe predatory extortion, deprivation of liberty, dangerous bodily harm, coercion, insult and infidelity. His brothers are mainly accused of complicity and aiding and abetting in individual acts. 

The main allegation of the prosecution relates to an event on the evening of January 18, 2018. Arafat Abou-Chaker is said to have ordered Bushido - the public prosecutor calls him "voice artist" - to their joint office in Berlin-Teltow. He is said to have locked the door from the inside and threatened Bushido. "So, you bastard, you won't get out of here alive until you've told us the truth," quotes the chief prosecutor. Abou-Chaker is said to have asked Bushido to buy himself out with more than two to three million euros, otherwise he would have to pay for the rest of his life.

Allegedly, Bushido was only allowed to leave the room after more than four hours

In between, Arafat Abou-Chaker hit Bushido in the face with a half-full 0.5-liter plastic bottle and threw a chair at him. Leister says: "The witness Ferchichi felt acutely threatened, especially feared for the physical integrity of his wife and children." Abou-Chaker is said to have threatened: "First I'll fuck your mother, then I'll fuck your father, then I'll fuck your children and when I'm done I'll fuck you." Bushido was only allowed to leave the room after more than four hours.

Bushido's wife, Anna-Maria Ferchichi, sister of singer Sarah Connor, is said to have threatened Arafat Abou-Chaker that same night to put him and his brothers in jail. In fact, she went to the police a few days later. It took a little longer before Bushido also decided to testify against Arafat Abou-Chaker. 

He learned to be a car mechanic as a profession, says the defendant when asked by the presiding judge Martin Mrosk. He is currently earning his living by "renting and leasing" real estate. The music business doesn't mention Abou-Chaker. Yasser and Nasser Abou-Chaker say they are unemployed. Rommel Abou-Chaker states that his job is "employee". 

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Defendant Arafat Abou-Chaker in the Berlin district court: He is said to have hit Bushido with a plastic bottle

Anis Ferchichi aka Bushido, everything sounds calm. He seems relaxed, there is no apparent tension in him. Every now and then he fiddles with his mouth and nose protection. Sometimes he looks over at Arafat Abou-Chaker. The court had originally planned to hear Bushido as a witness on Wednesday, the next day of the trial. Now it has instead called the defendant Yasser Abou-Chaker's wife as a witness.

One of the brothers is in custody - in another case

The background is presumably the request of the defense that the public prosecutor should first provide the court and thus also the defense with the minutes of all interrogations of the two before the testimony of Bushido and his wife. She also requests that the files of a preliminary investigation into Bushido be consulted. There is talk of suspicion of money laundering.

Senior Public Prosecutor Leister agrees to check again whether the files are still missing any interrogations. She says there has been a lot of interrogation of Bushido. And she also mentions that "suspicions for 16 to 20 further proceedings" arose from his statements. She names the name of a chief detective. The official of the State Criminal Police Office is an expert in real estate as a means of money laundering. It sounds like Bushido could bring the Abou-Chakers to more lawsuits. 

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Police officers in the Berlin district court

The first day of negotiations is over after about an hour. Bushido is the first to be led out of the hall by the police. Again he disappears into the next room, in front of which the guards are posted. Only Yasser Abou-Chaker is in custody for another matter, he is said to have attacked a man with a knife in Denmark. His three brothers left the court at a quarter to noon through the main entrance. They don't want to say anything to the numerous cameras waiting for them there. Their defense attorneys had previously said in the room, when the presiding judge asked whether the accused would get involved, that they would remain silent for the time being.