The Berlin rapper Fler initially admitted allegations against him in a lawsuit, but later caused a scandal. In the middle of questioning a witness on Wednesday in front of the district court in Berlin-Tiergarten, the 40-year-old jumped up and stormed out of the room angrily about the woman’s statements. Lies would be told, he had exclaimed earlier. Fler’s defense attorney, whose real name is Patrick Losensky, was also unable to bring him back to the hearing for assault, insult, threats and property damage.
The case involves two charges. Fler is said to have badly insulted two women via social media at the beginning of 2020 – in one case he published a picture of those affected on his account and offered 2000 euros for her to be “brought”. The hostility was triggered by a post by one of the women on a platform in which she pointed out what she believed to be misogynistic statements in the musician’s rap lyrics, according to the indictment. He also threatened a comedian at the time.
A few days later, in March 2020, Fler is said to have attacked and insulted a television crew that wanted to interview him as he left a store. In the second charge that has now been heard, he is accused of hitting the cameraman with his fist and of having “plannedly destroyed” his film camera by throwing it onto the ground with full force.
It started very calmly at first
At the beginning of the trial, Fler sat quietly next to his defense attorney. In the run-up to the hearing, an understanding had been reached. The rapper was promised a total sentence of a maximum of one year and six months in prison on probation if he confessed. In it, a conviction that has now become final is to be withdrawn in March 2021 to ten months’ imprisonment on probation. The proceedings included insults. He wanted to “not talk nicely about things, but describe how it came about,” Fler began his statement. He is “a bit ashamed” of the image that is conveyed of him in the two charges. The alleged insults came about via social media, according to the 40-year-old. The trigger was a campaign in which he was accused of misogyny and insulted. It is also true that he hit the cameraman with his fist. However, he felt harassed by the team and just wanted to prevent his partner, with whom he was traveling, from being filmed.
The provocative rapper went on to say he “will avoid confrontations in the future.” When he starts insulting, he tends to do it “extensively.” But he has learned in the meantime – “it’s best not to react at all”.
A few hours later the scandal. “I’m going out now, lying for three hours,” the rapper scolded and disappeared. The judge adjourned the trial to November 23. A verdict is likely to be reached then.
