interim injunction against Austrian broadcasting

“Now also serious allegations from Austria”: This was the headline of “orf.at” – the website of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation – on July 27, 2023 as part of the wave of allegations against Rammstein singer Till Lindemann. The ORF relied on the statements of an anonymous young woman (called Beate H.) who had accused Lindemann of hitting her in the hotel room before a performance in Vienna. The article was picked up by numerous media outlets. Lindemann’s law firm has now obtained an injunction against the ORF reporting.

“According to the injunction order of the Hamburg Regional Court, the ORF is prohibited from arousing the suspicion through the reproduction of certain representations that Lindemann is said to have beaten H. against her will during the Rammstein ‘Stadium Tour’,” it says in response to orf .at in one opinion.

This is how the ORF argues

The court’s decision, the statement continues, was essentially justified by the fact that “the time and place of the incident described were not disclosed, which meant that Lindemann was not given the opportunity to adequately defend himself.” According to its own statements, the ORF consciously decided not to disclose the time or place of the alleged incident in order not to allow any conclusions to be drawn about the person behind the allegations. “Because H. wants to remain anonymous, she has not yet filed a criminal complaint against Lindemann,” continues orf.at.

“This means that the media has once again been prohibited from further suspicious reporting and from reproducing serious allegations,” said a statement from Lindemann’s law firm Schertz Bergmann. The ORF’s reporting on the allegations is “basically prohibited”.

The official announcement from Schertz Bergmann can be read here:

The ORF explained that they wanted to “continue to speak to those affected and carry out further research”.