Abou-Chaker process: Bushido comes with Ashraf Rammo, Shindy brings "some rockers" with him

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Bushido as a witness and co-plaintiff in court: He incriminates Arafat Abou-Chaker heavily

Photo: Paul Zinken / dpa

Bushido is irritable.

So far, Anis Ferchichi, as the rapper's real name is called, has answered almost every question of the defense of Arafat Abou-Chaker in the trial before the Berlin Regional Court with exceptional politeness.

If a lawyer asked a question that someone else in the room had already asked over the course of all the weeks, Ferchichi just answered it again.

"With pleasure," he would often say.

"No problem."

Apparently he doesn't feel like it anymore this Monday.

Annoyed, he first reprimands one of the defenders, then the other.

Would you please be more attentive or study the files more closely.

He also turns to the court several times to see if he really needs to tell the same thing again.

The presiding judge asks for it.

The judge smiles and is noticeably anxious not to heat up the mood any further.

Arafat Abou-Chaker explodes anyway.

The attorney general is in the process of asking a question when Abou-Chaker suddenly hits Bushido.

"Say it out loud!" He called across the hall and repeatedly angry in German what he had just heard from Bushido in Arabic: "Son of a bitch!" Abou-Chaker barely kept it in the dock.

He scolds and scolds and obviously feels offended.

Bushido looks completely surprised, laughs mockingly and shakes his head.

Today the family is under police protection

Abou Chaker, the actually silent defendant, had never spoken so many words during the trial.

Talking to a larger public had last seen him and often for the first time on Thursday night.

On »Clubhouse«, an app for more or less moderated chats, up to 5000 people listened to Abou-Chaker for hours.

Unfortunately, he said he was not allowed to comment on the allegations in the ongoing process.

He then complained that he and his family were harassed by journalists, that he was wrongly criminalized, and that every member of the Abou-Chaker family was stigmatized just because of their name.

Incidentally, he is not a clan chief either.

Bushido is someone who sees it differently.

As a joint plaintiff and at the same time the most important witness in the trial against Arafat Abou-Chaker and three of his brothers, he has repeatedly stated that Arafat Abou-Chaker's word counted.

Bushido and Abou-Chaker were business partners for years - a forced collaboration, at least that is the rapper's view today.

He had to give Abou-Chaker 50 percent of all income without actually doing anything.

He complied out of fear, says Bushido.

It was only in autumn 2017 that he dared to give up.

Abou-Chaker demanded horrific sums in compensation and, the public prosecutor is convinced, locked Bushido in his office during a separation interview in January 2018, threatened him and attacked him with a plastic bottle and a chair.

Today Bushido, his wife and children are under police protection.

Masked officials accompany him to every day of the trial.

How rappers negotiate their contracts

Business this Monday is in the hall.

Bushido had several other rappers under contract.

The court, the prosecutor and the defense go through contract by contract.

For example the contracts that Bushido had signed with Samra and Shindy.

Abou-Chaker's defense is particularly interested in the circumstances surrounding the termination of the contract.

Samra asked him in early 2019 to terminate the contract when Arafat Abou-Chaker was temporarily in custody, Bushido reports.

Samra had made it clear that he was afraid of Abou-Chaker's reaction after his release.

"Everyone thought he was in custody for me," says Bushido.

An assumption that was not true.

As a precaution, Samra wanted to cancel the contract.

"Samra's concern was that he would be seen as a Bushido ally." He feared Arafat Abou-Chaker's "extremely hostile activities".

"Samra didn't want to be on his list, so I should terminate the contract."

Samra came to the conversation with him at the time, accompanied by Ashraf Rammo.

During the separation talks with the rapper Shindy, however, it was Bushido who brought Ashraf Rammo with him as support.

Ashraf Rammo is a member of another Berlin clan.

At a first meeting in Munich with Bushido, Rammo and two other men, Shindy was still alone.

At a second meeting in a hotel in Berlin, Shindy then accompanied "some rockers," says Bushido.

The talks were harmonious.

Bushido and Shindy quickly came to an agreement, and their lawyers did the rest.

It had been agreed that Shindy would pay Bushido an average six-figure sum, "less than 500,000 euros".

Defense attorney Hansgeorg Birkhoff sums up: »Shindy wanted out and that had to cost something.

Not his life, but money. ”It is no coincidence that Birkhoff's summary sounds very similar to what Bushido accuses his client.

Abou-Chaker only wanted to let Bushido go for money.

According to Bushido, however, either for a lot of money or payments for the rest of his life.

The defense keeps on asking.

If there weren't any problems, why did Shindy hire rockers to go with him?

"You have to ask him," says Bushido.

And what was Ashraf Rammo's job as Bushido's companion?

Bushido is increasingly annoyed.

Finally he says: “Mr. Rammo made sure nothing happened to me for a while.

Ashraf was a very, very close friend.

He supported and accompanied me.

I felt very comfortable in his presence - and still do today. "

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