Gil Ofarim accused hotel staff of anti-Semitism
Photo: Getty Images, Tristar Media. All rights reserved.
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Actually, the trial against the singer Gil Ofarim at the Leipzig Regional Court was supposed to start on Monday, October 24th. Ofarim’s lawyers had tried to have the judge used for the hearing biased, but this application was rejected last Friday by the Higher Regional Court as a higher instance. Nevertheless, the start of the process is now to be postponed.
The Leipzig Regional Court has now canceled the planned dates for the main hearing, which was supposed to last from October 24th to the end of November. A new date has not yet been set. A spokesman for the court told the “Bild” newspaper that a new date “cannot be expected before the end of 6 months due to the capacity utilization of the chamber with detention cases”.
The court justified the postponement with a duty of care for the accused. It still takes time to decide on the open appeals of the defense attorneys. In addition, the time should be used to decide whether to bring charges against Ofarim. The court also pointed out the possibility of an out-of-court settlement through perpetrator-victim mediation.
In 2021, Ofarim accused a receptionist of a Leipzig hotel of anti-Semitism in a viral video. He asked him to take off his chain with a Star of David before checking in. The employee denies this, and recordings from security cameras are said to cast doubt on the process described by Ofarim. The 40-year-old singer was subsequently charged with defamation and false accusation.
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