BERLIN, July 17 (Xinhua) -- The popular singer Xavier Naidoo is not to be called an anti-Semite, a German court ruled on Tuesday.
The singer, who has scored six No. 1 albums in Germany, was described as an anti-Semite at a public event in 2017 and subsequently sought legal measures against the defamation.
At the event in 2017 which was put on by the Amadeu-Antonio Foundation, referring to Xavier Naidoo a speaker had said that "he is an anti-Semite. That is structurally verifiable".
During the trial, the defendant pointed to anti-Semitic codes and ciphers in Xavier Naidoo's lyrics but the singer claimed to not know of these codes.
Naidoo referred to his artistic freedom during the trial and emphasized that he is against racism. The singer rejects harboring any anti-Semitic resentment and stressed that his own son had a Hebrew name.
At the reading of the verdict, judge Barbara Poeschl described calling someone anti-Semitic in Germany as a "very serious accusation". According to the court, the singer had "credibly distanced" himself from the use of anti-Semitism and the defendant had not been able to prove her claim sufficiently.
Explaining the decision, the judge also inferred that the defendant's right to freedom of speech would weigh less than the protection of the singer's personal rights.
Naidoo's lawyer Frank Wolf commented that the verdict was not unexpected because of the unsound use of a derogatory term.
"The claim is made up out of thin air. Not only is it an absolutely inaccurate claim of facts, its erroneousness is no longer covered by the freedom of expression," Wolf said.
