Arafat Abou-Chaker, head of the extended family of the same name, and his three brothers have been on trial in the Berlin district court for a year and a half. The question is whether the Abou-Chakers forced the rapper Bushido when he wanted to get out of the joint music label and other businesses. There is talk of physical violence and threats.
The Berlin judiciary has high hopes for the process. Because in contrast to other processes against large criminal families, there is a key witness here: the musician Bushido, whose real name is Anis Ferchichi. He sat on the witness stand for months and reported on the relationship with his former business partner Arafat Abou-Chaker. About how Abou-Chaker gets involved in the music business and what happens when something doesn’t go as planned. He is said to have appeared in the office of a label with which Bushido no longer wanted to work, held a termination agreement under the noses of two people in charge and slapped the third party, who hesitated with his signature.
Bushido’s statement gave valuable insights into a world that is otherwise closed to you. What influence large families have in the German rap scene and how they deal with the artists who are under contract with them. So Abou-Chaker received 30 percent of his income and became a millionaire as a result, said Bushido.
The question that is always in the room: whether everything is correct. Because Bushido was very fond of working with Abou-Chaker for a long time, the two were about to move to a common villa property with their families. Everything revolves around the core allegation: a meeting in January 2018 at which Abou-Chaker Bushido first locked himself in, then demanded several million from Bushido as a kind of transfer fee and finally became violent. A chair and a water bottle are said to have been thrown at the musician.
Bushido sticks to his version
Now a recording of this meeting has appeared, at which two Abou-Chakers brothers were also present. The recording was made secretly, but this is not unusual: In the Berlin half-world, conversations are often recorded for security reasons, Abou-Chaker is also in court because of the many secretly recorded conversations that were found on his cell phone. On this recording is how that star recently reported hearing something completely different: namely a relatively harmonious two-hour conversation. However, this would be devastating for the credibility of the most important witness.
He himself appeared in court this Wednesday and is sitting next to his lawyer in a dark sweater and sweatpants. “Events have rolled over one another,” begins the presiding judge. He has also received the audio recordings in the meantime, but has not yet listened to them. Until then, it must be clarified, among other things, what kind of recording it is and whether it can be used in court. Bushido’s lawyer still wants to say something, namely that this recording is worth nothing and that he will prove it.
It is only two hours long, but the conversation has been shown to have lasted more than four hours. In addition, the investigators had a long list of sound recordings from Abou-Chaker’s cell phone, of all things, this exonerating Abou-Chaker, but is not included. The lawyer is convinced that the recording was manipulated, maybe even forged, possibly in a recording studio. Bushido himself says nothing, he wrote on Instagram that he would remain in court with his description.