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Co-plaintiff Bushido in court (2021): The rapper maintains his allegations against Arafat Abou-Chaker
Photo: Paul Zinken / dpa
The fact that it is not an ordinary day in the trial of Arafat Abou-Chaker and three of his brothers is shown by the bodyguards, who in the morning once again posted themselves in balaclavas and protective vests in front of a room next to the hearing room in the Berlin Regional Court.
The signal is clear: Bushido is in the house.
The rapper is not only a joint plaintiff in the trial against Abou-Chaker, he is also the most important witness against the clan chief and is protected by officials from the State Criminal Police Office.
Bushido testified in the process for 25 days, most recently in April 2021. He returned this Wednesday.
Because there is an allegation that he lied to the public prosecutor and the court massively.
It's about a meeting on January 18, 2018. Bushido had testified on several days of negotiations that Arafat Abou-Chaker locked him up that January day, threatened him and attacked him with a plastic bottle and a chair.
At the end of 2017, Bushido declared the business relationship with his partner to be over.
However, he did not accept the separation.
In January, the dispute is said to have escalated and Arafat Abou-Chaker freaked out.
The indictment accuses him of dangerous bodily harm, deprivation of liberty, coercion and attempted aggravated extortion.
Everything a lie?
That's what the »Stern« suggested last week.
An audio recording was leaked to the magazine, which is said to be an audio recording of that meeting.
"Stern" did not report where the file came from a year and a half after the start of the trial.
An unnamed expert is said to have checked the recording and found no evidence of manipulation of the audio file.
The so-called metadata, in which the place, date and time are recorded, should prove that the recording actually came from the evening in question.
Bushido's lawyer Steffen Tzschoppe said in court that day that he and his client were not familiar with the recording and had no interest in listening to it.
"It doesn't matter what's on it," he says.
Tzschoppe makes no secret of the fact that he believes the audio file has been manipulated.
The "star" sees Bushido's statement refuted by the recording in all essential points.
Neither an attack with a bottle nor a chair can be heard on the recording.
Nor can it be heard on the recording that Arafat Abou-Chaker rudely threatened Bushido with the words: "First I'll fuck your mother, then I'll fuck your father, then I'll fuck your children and when I'm done with that, I'll fuck you." ." On the other hand, it can be heard that a waiter enters and leaves the room, which according to Bushido is closed, without a door being opened and closed.
The meeting should not have lasted more than four hours, as Bushido says, but two hours.
The chamber wants to commission an expert
"In the last week, events have rolled over a bit," said presiding judge Martin Mrosk, summing up the excitement about the audio file.
The judge announces that Arafat Abou-Chaker's defense lawyer submitted the file to the court on Friday.
The chamber now wants to commission its own expert to examine the admission.
Then Bushido's defender Tzschoppe comments on the allegations.
The lawyer speaks acquitted, excessively, now and then he loses himself in trivial matters.
Several times the judge asks him to get to the point.
Bushido himself maintains composure – and is silent.
According to his lawyer, the rapper rejects the accusation of lying.
Bushido sticks to it: Arafat Abou-Chaker threatened him in a locked room on January 18, 2018, insulted him and attacked him with a plastic bottle and a chair.
Attorney Tzschoppe begins to enumerate what, in his view, speaks against the admission and for the credibility of Bushido's statement.
Tzschoppe claims that the creation date of a file can easily be manipulated.
He says no reputable expert can "rule out" that the file is "a fake."
"You can't do that." The lawyer couldn't help but refer to the forged Hitler diaries published by "Stern" in 1983.
Tzschoppe assumes that the recording is an abridged and manipulated version of an original recording, in which all passages incriminating Arafat Abou-Chaker have been removed.
“You know your way around audio files!” the lawyer calls out to the accused.
The defense refuses such speeches.
Judge Mrosk calls on everyone to exercise moderation.
It has been known since 2019 that Arafat Abou-Chaker secretly recorded conversations with his mobile phone.
Investigators found 65 recordings on his cell phone.
Some of these recorded conversations are part of the indictment because such clandestine recordings are illegal.
The authorities found all sorts of files, but they did not find a recording from January 18, 2018.
Lawyer Tzschoppe says Bushido learned from the public prosecutor's office in February 2019 that there were recordings of the conversation.
But he also knew beforehand that Abou-Chaker was secretly recording conversations.
Bushido always expected that there would also be a recording from January 18, 2018.
Knowing this, he testified in court.
What Tzschoppe wants to say: Bushido is not so stupid as to tell fairy tales if he has to assume that he will be refuted by a recording at any time.
At the time, the judge repeatedly instructed Bushido that as a witness he had to tell the truth.
Bushido was not sworn in.
An unsworn false statement is punished with imprisonment for not less than three months.
The negotiation is terminated
Finally, Tzschoppe begins to talk about the car that Bushido drove to the meeting.
He hopes the vehicle, a Mercedes-Benz GLS, will store data that can be used to determine where and how long it was parked that evening in January.
But Bushido no longer has the car.
Tzschoppe begins to sketch awkwardly how he finally successfully searched for the vehicle in the past few days.
But the presiding judge interrupts him abruptly.
Tzschoppe does not get very far with his explanations.
A sheriff is not doing well.
A paramedic is called and the day of the hearing is called off.
It should continue on Monday.