We are now looking back on all of them and would like to share the latest developments with you. If you missed or forgot what exactly these cases were and what they were about, you can read about them here.
But before we start, we want to thank every single one of you whom we saw joining the manifestation in front of the court on September 10, as well as the other court hearings. Of course we also did not forget all the people coming to Rigaer94 to reconstruct what was broken after the raid, and those who spontaniously organized and participated in a demonstration as well as soli-pictures from other citites. We also happily saw other actions, people carried out around the court hearings:
A few days before the raid, people broke into the office of Leonid Medved, the alleged “owner” of the house, and published another text later on, leaking documents and interesting information that were found inside. You can read them here. In the night of September 7, people smashed the windows and doors of the restaurant Breggs that belongs to the daughter of Leonid Medved. Next day, September 8, four vans of Vonovia went up in flames, with the claim also calling to defend Rigaer94.
Seeing these things gives us the strength to continue the struggle and lets us know that we fight together with everyone who understands themselfs as part of the house and the fight for liberation.
Letterbox company Lafone Investments Ltd – still not legitimate
Right at the start of the proceedings, the court announced its clear tendency – Lafone, the alleged owner company, seems unable to legally act in Germany.
But even if they were, their incompetence is not limited to lawful corporate governance, but also to backing up their claims — for example, with evidence or (good) grounds for legal action. Convincing arguments that the individuals who were accused as result of the 2021 raid actually live in the house were lacking not only for us, but also for the judge.
It remains unclear how Lafone intends to obtain an eviction order against people whom they cannot even prove live here. As a result of the recent raid in August, the enemies lawyers attempted to add several individuals to the lawsuits, who were allegedly present during the search of the house. They were obviously just as unaware as the Tiergarten Criminal Court (?), which ordered the search, that no extension to the lawsuits are permitted in an appeal hearing — therefore, the results of this raid, which was deliberately carried out shortly before the proceedings, have no effect on these proceedings.
Even though the judge emphasized various problems on Lafone’s part, particularly with regard to their legitimacy in German courts, he also provided them with solutions and suggestions as to how these could be resolved through legal channels, thereby enabling the company to become a legally recognized entity in Germany.
No final decision was reached at the trial dates.
Partial settlements – deals with the enemy
Although the trial started well for us, after the judge had spent enough time criticizing Lafone’s incompetence, he proposed partial deals. The proposed deals would not be court orders; they would be concluded independently between the parties concerned and recorded by the court.
The proposed settlements would be broken down as follows:
– The defendant evicts the apartment in question and hands it over to the “owner”.
– The plaintiff and defendant waive all rights and obligations under the rent contract and thus terminate it.
– The plaintiff shall bear all costs of the legal dispute.
– There was a withdrawal period of 3 weeks, which expired on October 1.
– This would conclude the proceedings between the plaintiff and the respective defendant.
This settlement is therefore similar in content to the termination agreements that almost all of the former rent conctract owners concluded with the alleged owner last year. However, by being included in the minutes of the hearing, this settlement takes on a different significance than the termination agreement, which, if concluded with a party without legal capacity, has no effect.
All six former rent contract owners who signed the termination agreement last year and have now been involved in negotiations have provisionally accepted this settlement. However, all these former rent contract owners have since made use of the option to withdraw from this agreement, requesting a further court date in order to reach a different agreement. For this, the announcement date that was set for October 15, is now also another court hearing, to find another settlement. We do not know exactly how another settlement might look like.
What we do know, however, is that these agreements are equivalent to an eviction order.
These eviction orders would be against the people concerned — meaning people who do not live in the house — in the event of an (attempted) eviction. However, the fact that other people who might be found in these apartments could also be illegally evicted cannot be ruled out by Berlin cops and politicians.
We are relieved, that the old rent contract owners withdraw the deals. But as it is still unclear how a new deal might look like and wether it would also be equivalent to an eviction order, we will need to wait for October 15 to be able to finally assess the trials.
The worst lawyers in Berlin
We’re not the only ones who can’t be bothered with court – Lisa Close, the English director of Lafone Investments Ltd., failed to appear at any of the court hearings despite being expressly summoned. We would have loved to welcome her to Berlin. We were already good at skipping back in our school days. And we didn’t even need two lawyers to do it.
Although they should know better, for all of the three dates, they submitted a doctor’s note — Unfortunately in the wrong language. Unfortunately, it also had the wrong name. The document certifying that she had a broken ankle was in the name of Lisa Taylor, which appears to be her old name.
When it was pointed out in the first hearing that this meant there was no formal sick note, the only thing lawyer Bernau could think of to say was, “I noticed that too.” Respect for the good argumentation at this point! The same doctor’s note was submitted again for the next hearings. As the proceedings continued, we were once again impressed by Bernau’s ability to be so incompetent in his profession.
When it came to how likely it is that the letterbox company he had been representing for years would actually cover court expenses, our lawyers pointed out that Lafone also had a German bank account. Bernau’s contribution was limited to a confused:
“I think we even have a house in Germany… I’m not sure, though…”
No matter what settlements are reached. No matter what decisions a court makes.
To come back to Bernau’s words:
We know we have a house here. We are sure of it.
And we will not give up this house without a fight.
R94