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CRIME

Rammstein frontman denies sexual assault allegations

A law firm representing the frontman of German rock band Rammstein, who has been hit by a wave of sexual assault claims, on Thursday categorically denied the allegations.

Rammstein sexual assault allegations
Rammstein frontman Till Lindemann performs at a concert in Düsseldorf. Lindemann is at the centre of a wave of sexual assault allegations. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Malte Krudewig

Several women have come forward recently to claim they were drugged and recruited to engage in sexual activity with Till Lindemann, 60, at Rammstein after-show parties.

“Various women have made serious accusations against our client,” Berlin-based law firm Schertz Bergmann said in a statement.

“These allegations are without exception untrue,” it said, adding that legal action would be taken against the women.

READ ALSO: German band Rammstein hit by sex abuse scandal

The scandal erupted after a young Irish woman posted on social media that she had been drugged and propositioned by Lindemann at a backstage party in Vilnius.

A wave of similar stories has since emerged through platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

The uproar around the allegations led to all after-show parties being cancelled at a series of Rammstein concerts in Munich this week.

Berlin has also said that after-show parties will be cancelled at the band’s upcoming concerts in the German capital in July.

The allegations prompted German Families Minister Lisa Paus to call for better protection for fans at concerts.

Rammstein, an industrial metal band founded in 1994, is known for grinding guitar riffs, taboo-breaking antics and theatrical stage shows heavy on pyrotechnics.

Their songs have dealt with subjects from cannibalism to necrophilia and the band name itself evokes the 1988 Ramstein air show disaster that killed 70 people and injured more than 1,000.

The band has denied the allegations.

But German media have reported that Alena Makeeva, a Russian woman accused of recruiting young women to engage in sexual relations with Lindemann, has been banned from all further Rammstein concerts.

Makeeva called herself Rammstein’s “casting director” and had been working for the band since 2019, according to Die Welt daily.

READ ALSO: Who are Rammstein and why are they so big in Germany?

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POLITICS

Germany raids properties in bribery probe aimed at AfD politician

German officials said on Thursday they had raided properties as part of a bribery probe into an MP, who media say is a far-right AfD lawmaker accused of spreading Russian propaganda.

Germany raids properties in bribery probe aimed at AfD politician

The investigation targets Petr Bystron, the number-two candidate for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in next month’s European Parliament elections, Der Spiegel news outlet reported.

Police, and prosecutors in Munich, confirmed on Thursday they were conducting “a preliminary investigation against a member of the German Bundestag on the initial suspicion of bribery of elected officials and money laundering”, without giving a name.

Properties in Berlin, the southern state of Bavaria and the Spanish island of Mallorca were searched and evidence seized, they said in a statement.

About 70 police officers and 11 prosecutors were involved in the searches.

Last month, Bystron denied media reports that he was paid to spread pro-Russian views on a Moscow-financed news website, just one of several scandals that the extreme-right anti-immigration AfD is battling.

READ ALSO: How spying scandal has rocked troubled German far-right party

Bystron’s offices in the German parliament, the Bundestag, were searched after lawmakers voted to waive the immunity usually granted to MPs, his party said.

The allegations against Bystron surfaced in March when the Czech government revealed it had bust a Moscow-financed network that was using the Prague-based Voice of Europe news site to spread Russian propaganda across Europe.

Did AfD politicians receive Russian money?

Czech daily Denik N said some European politicians cooperating with the news site were paid from Russian funds, in some cases to fund their European Parliament election campaigns.

It singled out the AfD as being involved.

Denik N and Der Spiegel named Bystron and Maximilian Krah, the AfD’s top candidate for the European elections, as suspects in the case.

After the allegations emerged, Bystron said that he had “not accepted any money to advocate pro-Russian positions”.

Krah has denied receiving money for being interviewed by the site.

On Wednesday, the European Union agreed to impose a broadcast ban on the Voice of Europe, diplomats said.

The AfD’s popularity surged last year, when it capitalised on discontent in Germany at rising immigration and a weak economy, but it has dropped back in the face of recent scandals.

As well as the Russian propaganda allegations, the party has faced a Chinese spying controversy and accusations that it discussed the idea of mass deportations with extremists, prompting a wave of protests across Germany.

READ ALSO: Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

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