Dirk Labudde is a digital forensic expert and provided the “video evidence” in the Gil Ofarim case – and probably convicted the musician of lying. Now the expert reports on the case, his perception of it and the moment in which he knew that Ofarim was not telling the truth.
“I don’t know if he thought: Maybe things will go well.”
Gil Ofarim had claimed for about two years that a hotel employee at the Leipzig Hotel “Westins” insulted him with anti-Semitic insults and asked him to hide his Star of David necklace with the words “Pack up your star!” He made this accusation public at the time in an Instagram video that was viewed millions of times. A lawsuit followed and the case went to trial. On the sixth day of the trial, Ofarim admitted his lie. Labudde had previously pointed out that the 41-year-old was not wearing a visible Star of David necklace when he arrived and thus also during his conversation with the employee in question.
The forensic scientist explained in an interview with “Focus“That the confession in court would not have surprised him because he was convinced of his report. Ofarim knew the report before the trial began, but stuck to his story. “I don’t know if he thought: Maybe it’ll be okay. One must not forget: a criminal trial has its own, dynamic course. A lot can happen there. And in the end, the court must be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt of the defendant’s guilt. I could imagine that Mr. Ofarim and his defense attorney hoped that doubts would remain at the end of the trial and that an acquittal would therefore result,” said Labudde.
“I think he’s still a kid inside.”
He does not want to clearly say whether the 150-page document was actually the trigger for the turning point in the process. For the professor at Mittweida University in Saxony, however, this case is “the case of my life”. Labudde is proud to have contributed objective evidence to the trial: “From a purely forensic perspective, it wasn’t actually a big challenge. It was more or less about analyzing a video, improving the image and so on. A lot of things happen by default. The enormous media attention was truly extraordinary. There is also the political background of the case. That’s very, very rare.”
During the entire process, Dirk Labudde had little to do personally with Gil Ofarim, but was able to make some interesting observations. “I only had the peripheral opportunity to observe him closely. He seemed incredibly tense. I always imagined what a difficult situation he was in. I think he wasn’t aware of what he had really done for a long time. I think he’s still a kid inside. He did something without considering the consequences,” said the digital expert. He didn’t have any pity. “He committed a crime, there is no doubt about it. He put a lot of people in a bad situation. Not just the hotel manager and the “Westin” hotel, but the city of Leipzig, Saxony and, in principle, the entire east of Germany. Ofarim’s accusations of anti-Semitism stigmatized and smeared an entire region.”
“From that moment on I knew: Mr. Ofarim was lying.”
Part of the report involved recreating what happened in the hotel. During this investigation, Dirk Labudde was able to determine for himself that Gil Ofarim’s representation of the facts could not correspond to the truth: “We were forensically advanced to the point where we could say: If he had worn the Star of David openly, then it would have been detectable and so could we should have seen him. But that wasn’t the case. At that moment it was clear to me: Mr. Ofarim definitely did not wear the star openly – and that was the crucial point, the crucial question. From that moment on I knew: Mr. Ofarim was lying.”
The defendant had agreed to provide his Star of David necklace and clothing for the re-enactment of the events in the hotel. Why he did this remains a mystery to forensic scientists to this day. He thinks: “At that moment at the latest, he must have been aware of what would happen to him if we recreated the events in the hotel. He must have known that we would find out that he wasn’t wearing the star visibly on his chest. But these are just speculations. Maybe he didn’t think about it at all.”
At the end of the trial, Dirk Labudde was proud that he was able to contribute something to finding the truth, but emphasizes that this “was not related to the defendant as a person, but rather to the fact that he was able to complete this assignment and produce a legally sound report.” One point that was also very important to him when clarifying the case was to dispel some prejudices about the federal state of Saxony: “Mr. Ofarim’s allegations have caused serious damage to the country. There are so many beautiful and positive things here that you can’t let lies and prejudices destroy.”
“He should handle the legal peace carefully”
Now that the negotiation has concluded, there is only one thing left to do – the fine of 10,000 euros that Gil Ofarim has to pay. He hasn’t done that yet. According to the expert, this is incomprehensible: “He has six months to pay the money and the deadline has not yet expired. I would have transferred the sum straight away myself. Why he behaves like that – I have no idea. Maybe there’s something legal going on in the background. I don’t know it.”
If Dirk Labudde were to give something to both Gil Ofarim and the injured hotel employee, it would be to use the newfound calm carefully. “First of all, I wish the injured desk manager of the Westin Hotel, who went through terrible things, all the best. And I also hope that Mr. Ofarim can calm down and start again at some point. Both have a very heavy backpack to carry, each in their own way. Mr. Ofarim should be happy about his second chance and use it. He should handle the legal peace that has now been established with care.”