East German songwriter commits suicide in jail
Published: 3 Feb, 2009 CET.
Updated: Tue 3 Feb 2009 10:27 CET
East German songwriter Kurt Demmler was found dead on Tuesday morning in his Berlin jail cell, the same day he was to stand trial for more than 200 counts of child sexual abuse, daily Berliner Morgenpost reported.
Demmler, one of the former German Democratic Republic’s (GDR) most successful rock songwriters, was found at 6:30 am on Tuesday after hanging himself in his Moabit-district jail cell, the paper said.
The 65-year-old was accused of sexually abusing six underage girls between August 1995 and November 1999 after holding castings in his Prenzlauer Berg district apartment for a supposed girl band, the paper reported.
After writing award-winning songs like “Come Into My Guitar Boat” and “Every Person Can Love Everyone,” for East German musicians, he became active in the peaceful revolution against the country's communist government that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
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Demmler, one of the former German Democratic Republic’s (GDR) most successful rock songwriters, was found at 6:30 am on Tuesday after hanging himself in his Moabit-district jail cell, the paper said.
The 65-year-old was accused of sexually abusing six underage girls between August 1995 and November 1999 after holding castings in his Prenzlauer Berg district apartment for a supposed girl band, the paper reported.
After writing award-winning songs like “Come Into My Guitar Boat” and “Every Person Can Love Everyone,” for East German musicians, he became active in the peaceful revolution against the country's communist government that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
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