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Arafat Abou-Chaker (archive): He earned some of Bushido's success, today they fell out
Photo: Olaf Wagner / imago images / Olaf Wagner
The two men treat each other with respect. Arafat Abou-Chaker follows Ashraf Rammo's statements in court with a serious expression. Every now and then he nods in agreement. He never laughs mockingly, rolls his eyes or expresses his displeasure in any other way, as he had repeatedly done with the testimony of Bushido and his wife Anna-Maria Ferchichi. Rammo and Abou-Chaker treat each other with respect.
Ashraf Rammo, 39, is a witness this Monday in the trial of Arafat Abou-Chaker, 45, and three of his brothers.
Rammo, whom the rapper Massiv calls "Berlin's Marlon Brando" in one of his songs, wears a well-groomed full beard, black jeans, black short-sleeved shirt, white sneakers.
He has a lawyer with him.
Before 38
.
He should report to the large criminal chamber of the Berlin Regional Court what he knows about the dispute between the rapper Bushido and clan boss Abou-Chaker.
In September 2017, the two fell out.
Bushido went a little later into the care of Ashraf Rammo, who became his manager for a short time.
Bushido's dealings with Rammo ended when he began working with the police.
The presiding judge asks whether he knows the defendants.
"Yes, I know them all," says Rammo and begins to list the names of Arafat, Nasser, Rommel and Yasser Abou-Chaker.
“We're from the same area.
We are all Neukölln.
We grew up together. «Neukölln is a district of Berlin.
He knew little about the relationship between Bushido and Abou-Chaker until 2017.
"I only know it from hearsay," he says.
Over the years they would have seemed like a close knit community to him.
"They did everything together." They appeared together everywhere.
At the end of 2017, Bushido suddenly reported to him that he had fallen out with Abou-Chaker and that Abou-Chaker wanted to end his collaboration with him.
"Really?
Cool!
Wow! ”Was how he reacted to the news at the time.
"That was very surprising to me."
"Mr. Ferchichi told you that the separation from Arafat Abou-Chaker started?" Asks the presiding judge.
The acoustics in the hall are difficult, and Rammo's rapid speech makes it even more difficult to understand.
"Right," confirms Rammo, Bushido said that Abou-Chaker wanted to end the collaboration.
Abou-Chaker later confirmed this to him at a meeting in a restaurant on Kurfürstendamm.
He had both straight to take lawyers
The witness does not say why Abou-Chaker contacted him at the time. They ate together and talked about bushido. Abou-Chaker first made a pilgrimage to Mecca and then wanted to break up with the rapper. At the time, the media presented it as if he was Bushido's new protector, "the strong man" at his side who was supposed to negotiate the separation with Abou-Chaker. "That's not true," says Rammo. He doesn't say how it should actually have been.
Rammo also noticed that the separation of the two did not go smoothly. "As with such an old married couple, there was always friction between the two." They had not come to an agreement. "It was like a tug of war." Rammo laughs. “They quarrel - sorry - like girls. They're like two women arguing. ”He advised both of them to hire lawyers.
Did Bushido tell him that Abou-Chaker locked him up during a separation interview in January 2018 and attacked him with a half-full plastic water bottle and a chair, the judge asks.
Because of these allegations, Arafat Abou-Chaker has to answer in court for, among other things, deprivation of liberty and dangerous bodily harm.
"No," says Rammo, shaking his head and repeating: "No, no." He read about it in the media.
"He never told me that."
"It was a difficult time for him"
On the evening of the day on which the attacks are said to have occurred, he visited Bushido with a friend at home. "He talked like always," says Rammo. The rapper reported about the meeting with Abou-Chaker, saying that they had not come to an agreement again. Bushido did not speak of violence. "I don't want to anymore, I can't anymore," the rapper said. "It was a difficult time for him," says Rammo. "I wanted to support him, help him, advise a little."
How it came about that Rammo Bushido's manager after Abou-Chaker remains unclear on this first day of his witness questioning. "I'm not someone who pushes myself", says Rammo simply. He speaks of a friendship that slowly developed into Bushido in 2017. And that he enjoyed working with Bushido. Bushido also raved about Ashraf Rammo in the highest tones in court.
He has been working in the industry as a »music advisor and supervisor« since 2005 and has good contacts in the rap scene.
He negotiated for Bushido with music labels and producers.
"I've tried to be a sensible manager." Your collaboration has gone well.
It wasn't because of him that their business relationship ended.
Bushido ended it when he turned to the police about Abou-Chaker.
The rapper has been under police protection since January 2019.
The assistant judge asks whether Rammo had any contact with Arafat Abou-Chaker while working with Bushido.
No, says Rammo.
“There were misunderstandings.
Arafat probably thought that I wanted to drive a wedge between him and Bushido. ”But this was not the case.
Abou-Chaker and Rammo have not seen each other for a long time. They only spoke briefly to each other last year. When Abou-Chaker's mother died in September, Rammo went to the funeral service and offered him his condolences. "I did him the honor," says Rammo. "That's how you do it."
