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Arafat Abou-Chaker in the Berlin district court: devil or friend?
Photo: Olaf Wagner / imago images / Olaf Wagner
The relationship between the rapper and the clan chief is complicated.
The presiding judge went to great lengths this Wednesday to fathom them.
Bushido had spoken of a kind of forced marriage with clan chief Arafat Abou-Chaker on an earlier day of the negotiations.
And about the fact that Abou-Chaker considered it his property.
Judge Martin Mrosk
now has a couple of questions.
"I have a problem understanding," he says.
After a corona-related forced break, Anis Ferchichi alias Bushido continued his testimony in the trial against Arafat Abou-Chaker and three of his brothers at the Berlin Regional Court on Wednesday.
Arafat Abou-Chaker is said to have imprisoned, beaten and verbally abused Bushido in January 2018 after the rapper ended his business relationship with him.
Arafat Abou-Chaker is charged, among other things, with attempted grave extortion, dangerous bodily harm, coercion and deprivation of liberty.
"Arafat was very present in my life"
But the picture of the relationship is contradictory.
Bushido had reported on an earlier day of the trial that his mother and Abou-Chaker got along well.
Now the judge asks why Bushido even introduced his mother to a man who supposedly exempts him financially.
"Arafat was very present in my life," says Bushido.
It is "completely normal" that his mother got to know his "circle of friends or acquaintances".
"The way you describe it, was he a friend?" Asks the judge.
So far, Bushido had portrayed Abou-Chaker as more of a devil.
Now he says: "In parts he was also a confidant."
Judge Mrosk asks further, he asks about the summer of 2017. Bushido wanted to move into his house in Kleinmachnow in Brandenburg in August with his wife and children.
He had bought the 16,000 square meter property together with Abou-Chaker, including three houses.
Arafat Abou-Chaker lived in one house, Bushido was supposed to move in with his wife in the house in the middle, and Abou-Chaker's brother lived in the third house.
Bushido depicts the position of the houses, he speaks of a "sandwich": "We were the topping and next to us the slices of bread."
"What kind of fence?"
Bushido says that he and his wife, Anna-Maria, were standing in front of their house back in August and were thinking about where to put a fence.
"At some point the door opened and Arafat came out with a cup of coffee in hand."
Bushido describes the situation vividly and in dialogue form.
They told Abou-Chaker about their fence plans.
"How? What kind of fence?"
Abou-Chaker was not enthusiastic.
Anna-Maria Ferchichi made it clear to him that his consent was not necessary.
"One word chased the other," says Bushido.
Abou-Chaker made it clear to her that she had nothing to report.
The two would have yelled at and insulted each other.
Bushido finally sent his wife away.
Now Abou-Chaker has yelled at him.
"You dog!"
"You tail!"
He accused Bushido of not having a grip on his wife.
"Her eggs only grew because of you!"
Bushido let his wife lead him "on a leash".
"He insulted me so badly."
The argument went on and on.
Abou-Chaker accused him of having changed.
And Bushido asked Abou-Chaker: "When was the last time you called me and asked how I was doing?"
At some point Abou-Chaker exploded: "I don't want to work with you anymore!"
"Jackpot!" Thought Bushido - and immediately agreed.
Abou-Chaker was taken by surprise.
He warned Bushido.
Without him he wouldn't be able to cope with all the people who wanted to "do his laundry" on him.
"Then let's see what kind of gangsta rapper you are," Abou-Chaker said.
But Bushido couldn't believe his luck.
That Abou-Chaker himself pronounced a separation, "I never thought it was possible in my life".
Anna-Maria Ferchichi cried with joy when Bushido told her about it at home.
If you believe Bushido, the joy only lasted for a short time.
"When I get back we will continue"
Abou-Chaker is said to have rowed back the next day.
Abou-Chaker wanted to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.
He said goodbye to Bushido in front of a restaurant in Berlin.
He took him in his arms.
"And while he is holding me in his arms, he says:" Sponge over it. When I get back, we'll continue. "" Abou-Chaker wanted to continue the collaboration.
The judge interrupts Bushido's flow of speech.
He now has a whole catalog of questions.
For example: "Why do you move into a house" where you are "in a sandwich position" with the man you feel you are forced to marry with and his brother?
Bushido's simple answer: Because it's an "incredibly beautiful house".
Then the judge comes up with Bushido's earlier testimony in court.
The rapper said at the end of October that his wife and Abou-Chaker had a heated argument at the end of 2014.
Bushido did not stand by his wife at the time, but also reproached her.
Then he hit her
.
The next day Anna-Maria left him.
Under the protection of officials from the State Criminal Police Office (LKA), she packed her things, took the children and left.
Bushido called it the low point of his life.
At that time he called Abou-Chaker.
Why Abou-Chaker of all places?
"If I feel so dirty, then I'll call my best friend," says Judge Mrosk.
Bushido explains it with Abou-Chaker's fearlessness in dealing with the police.
He was afraid of being arrested.
And Abou-Chaker has the talent to "avert" police measures.
"You mean you were hoping that Mr. Abou-Chaker would protect you from the LKA?" Asks the judge and laughs.
"Yes," says Bushido.
He has to laugh too.
An LKA officer sits next to him.
Bushido is now protected by the LKA.
At the end of the day of the trial, the judge seems to have come up with a term for the special relationship between Bushido and the clan chief: "It seems a bit as if this were an on-off relationship."
Bushido does not contradict.
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