German Prosecutors Drop Charges Against Rammstein’s Till Lindemann
Investigations into the sexual misconduct allegations leveled against Rammstein frontman Till Lindemann earlier this year have been dropped by German prosecutors. Despite complaints from multiple women regarding his backstage behavior, Deutsche Welle reports that a lack of evidence supporting those claims forced investigators to call off the case.
According to the DW report, investigators said law enforcement hadn’t received any official testimony from any of the women that made the initial claims against the Rammstein frontman, nor had they uncovered any proof that drugs were used to coerce women into having sex with him.
As a result, Lindemann’s legal team issued a brief statement:
“The rapid termination of investigative proceedings by the Berlin state prosecutor’s office shows that there is insufficient evidence that our client allegedly committed sexual offences.”
As you may recall, the legal proceedings against the Rammstein vocalist started after an Irish woman named Shelby Lynn went online to claim that she was drugged at the Rammstein show in Vilnius, Lithuania. According to her recollection of events, she said she was introduced to Lindemann, who served shots of tequila to Lynn and the other women present. She noted at the time that she’s not sure if it happened then, but she believed her drink may have been spiked, since she claimed she was a stumbling mess for the rest of the night.
Her allegations also included a situation where she was brought to a side room to be with Lindemann who allegedly expressed wanting to have sex with her during the show’s intermission, but she refused, resulting in a reportedly angry Lindemann. She then said she somehow wound up at her hotel at the end of the night with bruises she didn’t remember having prior to allegedly being drugged.
Then a follow up report in German news outlet Tagesschau outlined claims by other women, where they shared details of their experiences with Lindemann, which seemed to corroborate what Lynn alleged. In some cases, allegations of straight up rape and being offered drugs by Lindemann’s people were among the allegations.
Rammstein’s camp denied the allegations, saying in a tweet that they could “rule out the possibility that what is being claimed took place in our environment.” However as more allegations came forth, the band remained steadfast in their support of Lindemann. Still, drummer Christoph Schneider issued a statement on his personal Instagram account that attempted to distance the band from Lindemann’s backstage parties, even though he pointed out that the band’s after parties were always above the board.
Lindemann was also dropped by his publisher Kiepenheuer & Witsch as a result of everything going on.
In addition to charges being dropped against Lindemann, prosecutors also called off their investigation into the allegations leveled against Alena Makeeva, a former member of the band’s “inner circle” that had been accused of personally hand picking the girls that would go backstage for Lindemann’s alleged activities.
