German Producer Dieter Wedel Indicted on Suspicion of Rape
Wedel, one of Germany's most successful television directors, is accused of sexually assaulting a German actress in 1996.
Dieter Wedel, one of Germany's most successful television
directors, has been indicted on suspicion of rape connected to allegations
dating back to 1996.
The public prosecutor's office in Munich brought the
indictment before the 10th criminal chamber of the Munich I district court on
Friday. It is the result of a three-year criminal investigation triggered by a
report in the German newspaper Die Zeit in which three actresses accused Wedel
of assault.
Wedel, now retired, is one of Germany's most well-known and
successful television directors, with local-language hits including The King of
St. Pauli (1997) and The Semmeling Affair (2001). He was the first major figure
in the German entertainment industry to face sexual harassment allegations in
the wake of the #MeToo movement.
In the Die Zeit article, the actresses detailed what they
claim were three separate assaults that took place between 1991 and 1996. The
criminal investigation focused on the allegations from actress Jany Tempel from
1996, for which the statute of limitations has not yet expired.
Tempel said she met Wedel at his hotel room in Munich for
what she had been told was a casting session. When she arrived, the director
emerged wearing a bathroom. "He grabbed me violently and pushed me against
the wall,” the actress told Die Zeit. Tempel said she asked Wedel to stop but
he threw her on the bed and forced her to have sex with him.
Internal investigations by Wedel's former employers,
including public broadcaster ZDF and German production studio Bavaria, found no
evidence to support the abuse and harassment claims. Bavaria, however, said it
did find evidence that Wedel's behavior on set, which included angry outbursts
towards female employees, would be intolerable according to the company's
current code of conduct.
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