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Funeral of Mohamed Rs: They called him "Momo"
Photo: Paul Zinken / dpa
Several men, a dispute, a stabbing weapon – in the end Mohamed R. was dead. Died at the age of 25 after an argument at a Berlin folk festival on Sunday night.
This man was buried in Berlin on Thursday.
A funeral closely monitored by the police.
Because Mohamed R. had connections to the Berlin clans.
Known to the police, like his brothers.
A talented boxer, like his brothers.
The background to his death is unclear, no perpetrator has been caught so far.
Almost 1,000 people came to the cemetery in Berlin-Schoeneberg to pay their last respects to Mohamed, known as Momo.
Almost only men, some covered their faces under hoods.
The police were there too, a good 170 officers.
They directed the traffic, stood at roadblocks, observed what was happening in civilian clothes.
It stayed calm.
Less than four years ago, Mohamed's brother Nidal R. was buried in the same cemetery.
He was shot dead on Tempelhofer Feld in autumn 2018.
This fact is also not clear.
Fayes R., the dead man's brother, told SPIEGEL TV a year later: "If the police don't do their job, we'll do it." When asked, he explained: "You already know what we mean."
2000 men attended Nidal's funeral, including the greats of the scene: Mahmoud Al-Zein, Issa Rammo, Arafat Abou-Chaker.
names closely associated with the underworld;
Guys who have become celebrities themselves.
They all came because Nidal R. was considered a legend in the milieu.
He is said to have been incredibly brutal, at the age of 15 he stabbed another boy in the back.
Nidal R. was considered Berlin's first intensive offender.
Tall, arms wide from training in the gym.
The R. family cannot be compared to the Remmos or the Al-Zeins.
Too small, too few heads.
But Nidal made a name for himself in the scene because of his brutality.
He beat, stabbed, robbed.
Good in the ring
Mohamed R. was not as deeply involved in organized crime as his brother.
As a boxer, he appeared under the name Felix Raab.
He trained with the East Berlin milieu size Winfried Spiering.
Facebook videos show him in the ring.
He was good, considered a hope for youngsters.
And yet he was a violent offender.
In Berlin, certain investigators from a commissariat take care of young people who repeatedly attract attention with fights, robbery or blackmail.
This is to prevent them from remaining criminals indefinitely.
Apparently that didn't work out for the brothers of the R. family.
The background to his death is still unclear.
One thing is certain: the family has lost the second son, the second young man who is now buried in the New Twelve Apostles Cemetery.
With material from dpa