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Basketball professional Joshiko Saibou and his girlfriend, the long jumper Alexandra Wester, while going to the labor court in Bonn
Source: dpa / Roberto Pfeil
The Bonn professional basketball player Joshiko Saibou was fired from his club after appearing at anti-corona demos. For him “a slap in the face of freedom of expression”. His lawyer now recommended that he take further steps in court.
ALexandra Wester ironically nudged Joshiko Saibou in the side. “Honey, think of the mask,” said the German long jumper when she accompanied her boyfriend to the Bonn district court on Wednesday. The quality meeting there between the two-time national basketball player Saibou and the Bundesliga club Telekom Baskets Bonn then ended with no result. Both sides will meet again for a so-called chamber meeting on November 11th (2 p.m.). A judgment can be made there. A second chamber appointment or an earlier out-of-court settlement are also possible.
Through its lawyer Michael Plössner, the association had proposed a severance payment of “three to four gross monthly salaries”. Saibou’s representative Georg Melzer refused on Wednesday. “That’s not an amount we can recommend,” he said. Instead, the lawyer demanded continued payment for his client until the end of the contract in June 2021, including a so-called sprinter clause. Then an agreement could be reached if the player would find a job with another club sooner.
The Baskets had terminated the 30-year-old professional Saibou without notice because of “violations of the requirements of the current employment contract as a professional athlete”. Like his girlfriend Wester, he had taken part in a demonstration against the government measures to contain the corona pandemic in Berlin. Saibou had described the termination as a “slap in the face of freedom of expression” – and sued.
Saibou’s lawyer suspects an advanced argument
The club pointed out that Saibou had “endangered himself and all teammates and competitors” through his behavior. Saibou’s representatives contradicted this by pointing out that the team was not in training at the time. “The argument of an infection risk cannot therefore apply,” said Melzer. Saibou confessed to participating in the demo without a mask, but assured him that he had observed the minimum distance.
Saibou and his lawyer Marc V. Kramer before the start of the quality appointment
Source: dpa / Roberto Pfeil
His lawyer suggested that the founding of the association was an advanced argument. “Some time ago there was an inquiry whether he would like to play somewhere else because it was very expensive,” explained Melzer. “In our opinion, those are the reasons.” Bonn’s lawyer argued that the association had a history of Corona because there were five infected people at the office. One employee even had to be ventilated.
Basketball player is suing his dismissal
After participating in a demonstration by Corona deniers in Berlin, Telekom Baskets Bonn terminated the national player Joshiko Saibou without notice. On the other hand, he is now complaining that it is a “slap in the face of freedom of expression”.
Saibou’s exemption remains in effect. “We assumed that there was no interest in employing him anyway,” said his lawyer. His client can also realistically assess his chances of sporting activities. However, the search for a new club is made much more difficult because it is “branded” as ready for infection. After the meeting, neither side wanted to comment.
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