Berlin prosecutors probing Friday’s attack on a crew filming for a satirical news show on public ZDF television say their probe is proving "complicated." Some 15 persons are suspected of injuring five team members.
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Berlin prosecutors said Monday the dynamics and complexity of Friday's attack coupled with the need to interview numerous more witnesses and gather videoed evidence did not yet provide them with a reliable overview.
"The testimonies given so far do not give a consistent picture in all details," said prosecutors, who said they had, however, begun investigations against 15 persons.
The crew, comprising German-Moroccan comedian Abdelkarim Zemhoute, camera colleagues, and three security guards, was on assignment for public ZDF television's heute show in Berlin's central Mitte district.
The popular weekly center-left satirical news summary is produced from Cologne for ZDF, Germany's second national channel based in Mainz in Rhineland Palatinate.
The heute show crew had reportedly just filmed a demonstration against Corona-pandemic strictures at Berlin's Rosa Luxembourg plaza, also attended by far-right populists and conspiracy theory advocates.
Berlin police, who initially said they briefly detained six persons, including some from Berlin's "leftist scene," say Abdelkarim's team, while returning to its vehicle, was intercepted by 20 to 25 masked persons.
Our Freedom of Speech Award laureates
Since 2015, the DW Freedom of Speech Award has honored persons or initiatives for their outstanding promotion of human rights and freedom of expression. Learn more about the award and laureates.
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Meet our laureates 2015-2022
Deutsche Welle has been promoting democratic values, human rights and the dialogue between different cultures for more than six decades. Since 2015, our Freedom of Speech Award has honored persons or initiatives for their outstanding promotion of human rights and freedom of expression.
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2015: Raif Badawi, Saudi Arabia
Saudi blogger Raif Badawi has fought for freedom of expression in his country for years. His blog addressed political and societal grievances in Saudi Arabia. In 2012, he was arrested and accused of insulting Islam, religious leaders and politicians. Authorities sentenced him to 1,000 lashes (he has since received 50), 10 years in prison and a major fine in 2014. He was released in March 2022.
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2016: Sedat Ergin, Turkey
Sedat Ergin, former editor-in-chief of the Turkish daily "Hürriyet," received Deutsche Welle's second annual Freedom of Speech Award while being tried for allegedly insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "Freedom of speech is one of the most fundamental values of humankind," the journalist said. "It is an essential aspect of our existence in human societies."
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2017: White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA), US
In 2017, DW Director General Peter Limbourg presented the DW Freedom of Speech Award to Jeff Mason, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA). "We see this award as recognizing free press worldwide and in the US and as a sign of solidarity and encouragement for those colleagues who have the exciting task of reporting about the US President and his policies, said Limbourg.
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2018: Sadegh Zibakalam, Iran
The DW Freedom of Speech Award 2018 laureate was Iranian political scientist Sadegh Zibakalam. He was facing a jail sentence for speaking out against the political situation in his home country in an interview with DW. Zibakalam is famous for his intense debates with hardliners, repeatedly criticizing the government's official stance on domestic and foreign policy matters.
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2019: Anabel Hernández, Mexico
Mexican investigative journalist Anabel Hernández is the recipient of the DW Freedom of Speech Award 2019. Her work focuses on corruption and the collusion between government officials and drug cartels. She gained international attention in 2010 with her book "Los Señores del Narco" (Narcoland) which documented these illegal relations. She lives in exile in Europe.
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2020: Fact-Checkers fighting the Infodemic #COVID19
In 2020, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, DW has decided to honor 17 journalists from 14 countries. They represent all journalists worldwide who have disappeared or been arrested or threatened because of their reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic.
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2021: Tobore Ovuorie, Nigeria
Tobore Ovuorie is the recipient of the Freedom of Speech Award 2021. Ovuorie has worked as an investigative journalist for leading publications in Nigeria for about ten years. In 2014, her most renowned investigative report to date was published. The widespread human trafficking ring uncovered by Ovuorie was involved in transnational sex trafficking, as well as organ trafficking.
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2022: Mstyslav Chernov and Evgeniy Maloletka, Ukraine
Ukrainian visual journalist and novelist Mstyslav Chernov and photojournalist Evgeniy Maloletka are the 2022 DW Freedom of Speech Award laureates. The Freedom of Speech Award recognizes their work on the AP report "20 days in Mariupol" and offers a unique account of Mariupol under Russian siege, with Chernov and Maloletka being the last journalists in the city before their evacuation.
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Five film team members were hospitalized but later discharged with injuries.
Strong condemnation
Joining a weekend outcry led by Germany's DJV journalist union, the German government on Monday said it condemned the attack in the "strongest terms."
"We see that extremists of all stripes literally trample on the freedom of the press, one of our most important fundamental rights, by using threats and violence against journalists," said Steffen Seibert, spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel and himself once a ZDF presenter.
Already, federal interior minister Horst Seehofer had said that the state had a responsibility to ensure that the freedom of the press was guaranteed "at every moment and every location."
Those who attacked journalists "must experience the power of our constitutional state," added Seehofer.
Marlehn Thieme, the chair of ZDF's supervisory council comprising representatives from diverse branches of German society and business, said violence and extremism would not vanish amid the "Corona situation."
"It is therefore all the more important that public broadcasting counters this [trend] with its programing," through balance presentation of information as well as pointed satire, said Thieme.
Journalist slapped
In a further development Monday, Berlin police said they were investigating a police officer under suspicion of having struck a woman journalist in the face while on duty.
Public Berlin-Brandenburg broadcasting said she had been part of a team filming an arrest late Friday in the city-state's Kreuzberg district where May 1 demonstrators scuffled with police.
The journalist suffered two broken teeth and facial bruising, said rbb Monday.
