Berlin public prosecutor’s office: charges of attacking the ZDF team

Two years after a brutal attack on a TV team from the “ZDF Heute Show”, the public prosecutor’s office has brought charges. Three men and one woman are accused.

The attack happened with lightning speed. On May 1, 2020, several people dressed in black and masked attacked a team from the ZDF satirical program “Heute Show” on the sidelines of a demonstration by self-proclaimed lateral thinkers and corona deniers in Berlin. The attackers beat their victims with metal bars and fists. The TV journalists are said to have sustained injuries, some even temporarily losing consciousness.

Now, more than two years later, the Berlin public prosecutor’s office brought charges for the brutal attack at the Tiergarten district court. After WDRFour people, a 33-year-old man, a 28-year-old man, a 27-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman, are accused of causing aggravated assault. The 33-year-old accused is also accused of resisting law enforcement officials when he was arrested.

Investigators assume confusion

Most recently, the indictment had been repeatedly delayed, although several suspects had been identified shortly after the crime. Among them were several people who are assigned to the left-wing radical scene. However, the suspects are said to have initially refused to take DNA, which is why the investigation could not be completed earlier.

The investigators of the Berlin State Criminal Police Office (LKA) assume that the attack was a mix-up. It is assumed that the attackers from the extreme left spectrum originally wanted to attack right-wing extremists and people from the lateral thinker scene.