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CRIME

Germany opens probe into Rammstein frontman after sex assault claims

Berlin prosecutors said Wednesday they had opened an investigation against Till Lindemann, the frontman of German metal band Rammstein, following multiple claims of sexual assault.

Published: 14 June 2023 20:18 CEST
Rammstein
Rammstein lead singer Till Lindemann (r) fires a flame thrower at band member Christian Lorenz (l) on stage during a concert as part of the German tour with the album "Zeit" in Düsseldorf . Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Malte Krudewig

“Preliminary proceedings have been initiated against Till Lindemann on allegations relating to sexual offences and the distribution of narcotics,” a spokeswoman for the Berlin public prosecution’s office said in a statement.

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

Lindemann has denied the allegations, with his lawyers calling the accusations “without exception untrue”.

READ ALSO: Germany’s Rammstein facing calls to cancel Swiss concerts

Berlin prosecutors had opened the probe on their own initiative, the office’s spokeswoman said, as well as “on the basis of several criminal complaints filed by third parties”, meaning people not directly involved in
the alleged incidents.

No further information will be provided at this time in order not to jeopardise the ongoing investigation, the spokeswoman said.

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 last 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.

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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CRIME

German prince goes to court in second trial against far-right coup plot

A prince, a former MP and ex-army officers will go on trial Tuesday, accused of masterminding a conspiracy theory-driven plot to attack the German parliament and topple the government.

Published: 21 May 2024 09:08 CEST
German prince goes to court in second trial against far-right coup plot

In one of the biggest cases heard by German courts in decades, prosecutors accuse the group of preparing a “treasonous undertaking” to storm the Bundestag and take MPs hostage.

The proceedings at the regional court in Frankfurt are the second of three trials against defendants linked to the putsch plan.

Eight suspected members of the coup plot will take the stand in Frankfurt, as well as one woman accused of supporting their efforts to overthrow Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government.

The minor aristocrat and businessman Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss, one of the group’s ringleaders who will stand trial in Frankfurt, was said to be in line to become the provisional head of state after the current government was overthrown.

The sensational plan, foiled by authorities at the end of 2022, is the most high-profile example of the growing threat of violence from the political fringes in Germany.

The alleged plotters are said to have taken inspiration from “conspiracy myths” including the global QAnon movement and drawn up “lists of enemies”.

They also belonged to the German Reichsbuerger (Citizens of the Reich) scene — a group of extremists and gun enthusiasts who reject the legitimacy of the modern German republic.

Alleged ringleaders

According to prosecutors, the plotters believed Germany was run by a hidden “deep state” and were waiting for a signal from a fabricated international “Alliance” of governments to launch their coup.

The proceedings in the highly complex case, in which a total of 26 people face trial, are being held across three different courts.

Nine members of the group’s “military arm” went on trial in Stuttgart at the end of April, with a third set of proceedings scheduled to begin in Munich in June.

READ ALSO: ‘Not harmless nutcases’: German authorities identify new suspects in alleged coup plot 

The hearings are being held under tight security, with the trial in Frankfurt hosted in a specially built, multi-million-euro facility.

Among those in the dock next to Reuss will be ex-soldiers Ruediger von Pescatore, Maximilian Eder and Peter Woerner, who are said to have founded the group in July 2021.

The defendants also include several members of a “council” that was to replace the government after the coup, according to prosecutors.

The judge and former MP for the far-right Alternative for Germany Birgit Malsack-Winkemann is said to have been lined up for the justice portfolio.

Her access to the parliament building had allegedly allowed the group to scout out the site for their coup, according to media reports.

Michael Fritsch, a former policeman from Hanover, was meanwhile allegedly in line to take over the interior ministry.

Russian Contacts

The ninth defendant is Reuss’s partner, a Russian citizen identified as Vitalia B. She is accused of “abetting” the alleged putsch plan and putting him in touch with a contact at the Russian consulate in Leipzig.

Reuss and the other alleged ringleader of the group, von Pescatore, also sought a meeting with Russian officials in the Slovakian capital Bratislava in February 2022, prosecutors said.

“How the Russian Federation responded, has not yet been clarified,” prosecutors said. Reuss was allegedly tasked with negotiating an accord with Russia in the event of the coup’s success.

The threat from the far right has grown to become the biggest extremist menace to Germany, according to officials.

In April, police charged a new suspect in relation to another coup plan in which five others have already been indicted.

The plotters, frustrated with pandemic-era restrictions, planned to kidnap the German health minister, according to investigators.

Germany has seen an increasing number of attacks against public figures in recent years, following the murder of conservative politician Walter Luebcke by neo-Nazis in 2019.

This month, the former mayor of Berlin was attacked in a library, while an MEP was hospitalised after being jumped while putting up campaign posters.

READ ALSO: Why are German politicians facing increasing attacks?

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