Rammstein Vocalist Till Lindemann Seeking Trial Fraud & Document Falsification Charges Over 'Row 0' Allegations Reporting

Rammstein vocalist Till Lindemann‘s legal battle against German publication Spiegel continues in light of a June 10th, 2023 story that Spiegel published in regards to the 61-year-old German industrial metal icon.

Several allegations of Lindemann being involved in situations involving sexual misconduct at parties surrounding the band’s live appearances emerged online last year, spurred by initial reports of a woman alleging her drink was spiked during one such afterparty at a May 2023 show.

Those ‘Row 0’ afterparty events were said to have been organized for Lindemann, with his Rammstein bandmate Christoph Schneider commenting at the time in the initial wake of the aforementioned woman’s allegation:

“The accusations of the last few weeks have deeply shaken us as a band and me as a person. You fans certainly too. I feel as if in shock by the things that have been shared on social media and in the press and in print about our singer. This is an ebb and flow of emotions for us band members and crew.

No, I don’t think anything criminally relevant (such as the use of knockout drops) happened. No. I don’t think anything illegal was going on, I’ve never seen anything like it, nor heard anything like it from any of our crew of 100 people. All I heard from Till‘s parties were adults celebrating together. And yet things seem to have happened that, although legally ok, I personally don’t think are ok. Certain structures have grown that went beyond the limits and values of the other band members. It is also important to us that Till‘s parties are not confused with our official after-show parties.

Till has distanced himself from us in recent years and created his own bubble.

With their own people, their own parties, their own projects. That made me sad, definitely. I believe Till when he tells us that he always wanted and still wants to give his private guests a good time. How exactly these guests had imagined this, however, seems to differ in some cases from his own ideas. The wishes and expectations of the women who have now come forward were probably not fulfilled. According to their statements, they felt uncomfortable, on the edge of a situation that they could no longer control.

I feel sorry for her and I feel compassion. However, it is important for me to emphasize something objective: every guest in the backstage area is free to leave (they may have to wait a moment for security to lead them safely to the exit). All bottles are sealed and in full view of the guests freshly opened or they open them themselves.

Water and snacks are available just like Security personnel and medical care available at any time. We want all of our guests to feel comfortable and safe with us!

This is our standard. So I’m sorry to hear that some didn’t feel that way.

We have the greatest fans in the world and they all deserve to be treated with respect! I’m sorry for anyone who wasn’t treated kindly or felt unsafe backstage with us.”

Allegations of past sexual misconduct against the band’s keyboardist, etc. Christian “Flake” Lorenz would surface several weeks later. However, a story published by Spiegel featuring testimony from numerous alleged victims of Lindemann‘s parties saw Lindemann take legal action, with Lindemann eventually scoring a publication ban against them in court, after legally contesting the validity of the claims made in their reporting.

It was stated that ruling that, “No testimony of the witnesses, who have sworn their statements under oath or to the authors of the applicant (cf. affidavits of the authors of the applicant …), bears the suspicion that the applicant drugged or had women drugged with knockout drops/alcohol/drugs at concerts to enable him to perform sexual acts on the women.”

The aforementioned allegations were enough to give local authorities concern, and German prosecutors would go on to launch a probe into Lindemann and the activities alleged to have been transpiring at the ‘Row 0’ afterparties. However, in late August of 2023, German prosecutors dropped their investigation into Lindemann, stating in part:

“The evaluation of the available evidence – above all the press reports that refer to anonymous whistleblowers, as well as the additional questioning of witnesses – has not produced any indications that the accused has carried out sexual acts on women against their will, administered deactivating substances or exploited a power imbalance towards underage sexual partners in order to persuade them to have sex.”

Per the a statement issued at the time by the Attorney General of Berlin, the prosecutor’s office were unable to substantiate the claims made in the media reports, nor find any direct action of criminally relevant behavior.

A statement shared by Rammstein yesterday, August 05th, mentioned that the band were still “actively dealing” with the allegations brought forth, and today the band have shared a statement that offers more clarity on what actions are being taken.

Schertz Bergmann, who represent Lindemann, issued the following statement on August 02nd which reveals the latest in the ongoing legal proceedings against Spiegel initiated by Lindemann:

“Criminal charges of forgery and attempted trial fraud against SPIEGEL executives due to the affidavits submitted by SPIEGEL in the injunction proceedings against Till Lindemann

We issue the following press release on behalf of our client Till Lindemann:

Under the headings “Götterdämmerung” and “Sex, Macht, Alkohol — Was die jungen Frauen aus der Row Zero berichten” [“Sex, power, alcohol, what the young women from row zero report”] in its issue of 10 June 2023 (print and online), SPIEGEL reported on allegations of various women against Till Lindemann.

With the judgement handed down in the appeal proceedings on 19 July 2024, the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court confirmed Hamburg Regional Court’s interim injunction on the core allegations issued on 14 July 2023. Accordingly, SPIEGEL is still prohibited from arousing the suspicion that Till Lindemann drugged women or had them drugged at Rammstein concerts with KO drops or or drugs in order to enable him to perform sexual acts on the women.

In the injunction proceedings, SPIEGEL submitted two affidavits in its rejoinder to the Regional Court from 28 June 2023, from women named “Zoe” and “Sophie W.” in the article. “Zoe’s” affidavit had the peculiarity that it began on the penultimate page with a sentence that was not
continued on the next page. This page contained solely the witness’s signature, so that it had to be assumed that individual pages of the affidavit had been removed or replaced (see our press release of 15 May 2024).

Although this irregularity had already been criticised at the hearing before the Regional Court on 25 August 2023, SPIEGEL did not respond thereto until a week before the hearing in the appeal proceedings and submitted two previously unknown affidavits. Thereby, SPIEGEL had to concede that the originally submitted affidavits were not from “Zoe” and “Sophie W.”. Due to an oversight by its own legal counsel and its secretariat different versions had been mixed up during the submission of the affidavits, said SPIEGEL.

The different versions of “Zoe’s” affidavits differ significantly from each other, especially concerning her described recollection of the encounter with our client. In addition, in the proceedings, as well as accompanying the proceedings, SPIEGEL repeatedly defended its reporting with the argument that affidavits have a high degree of credibility due to the criminal penalty involved. In word-against-word cases, they should be sufficient to justify reporting on suspicion.

In so far as it has now been established that two affidavits were not actually rendered as submitted, this is a matter that must be clarified by the criminal prosecution authorities. Our client will therefore file a criminal complaint with Hamburg Public Prosecutor’s Office against SPIEGEL executives for falsification of documents and attempted trial fraud.

Berlin, 2 August 2024
Simon Bergmann
Attorney”