Till Lindemann has to cope with a setback in court

In May 2023, allegations of abuse against Rammstein frontman Till Lindemann were made for the first time. In June, the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reported together with NDR that several women had accused the singer of sexual assault and described the “casting system” in which young women are allegedly recruited for sex at concerts.

Till Lindemann had sued against the reporting, but the verdict was not in his favor.

Till Lindemann’s lawyers had argued that the sexual acts covered in the reporting were consensual and that the musician’s privacy had been violated, and that the reporting was “unbalanced.”

The Frankfurt regional court has now rejected the injunction and found the reporting to be in order and balanced, reports the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” itself. Allegations may be reported, even if it is a “statement against statement” situation.

In the justification for the judgment of September 6th, which was only delivered to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” on Tuesday, it was stated that the “required minimum amount of evidence” was also present if there was only one witness. Otherwise, “this would result in a possible incident such as the present one never being reported.” With regard to the “casting system,” the court sees an “overriding public interest in information.” Till Lindemann and the band Rammstein also had enough opportunity to comment.

Till Lindemann wants to appeal

Since the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” obtained affidavits from the alleged victims and also from people to whom they told about the alleged attacks, the standards for permissible suspicion reporting were met. According to the verdict, the newspaper was able to credibly demonstrate that it “made sufficient efforts to verify the accuracy of the information.” The fact that the proceedings against Till Lindemann have now been discontinued apparently doesn’t change anything.

The regional court’s decision was incomprehensible to Till Lindemann’s lawyers, as they emphasized to the online magazine “LTO”. Therefore, they would not accept this ruling: “We will definitely appeal to the OLG [Higher Regional Court, editor’s note] Frankfurt,” said Simon Bergmann.

Rammstein: Why the investigations against Till Lindemann were stopped
Till Lindemann wears a provocative t-shirt