Billy Six
Personal information
Born (1986-12-24) 24 December 1986
Germany
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2011–present
Subscribers23,000[1]

Billy Six (born 24 December 1986 in East Berlin, East Germany) is a German journalist, political analyst, activist and YouTuber.[2][3] Six is known for reporting from conflict zones including Central Africa, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Venezuela, Ukraine and Georgia for German newspapers and his personal social media channels on YouTube and Telegram. [4] [5] [6][7][8]

Early life

Six graduated from high school in 2006. His professional career started as a business administrator and member of his local parliament of Neuenhagen,.[9] By 2011, Six had embarked on a career in journalism.

Journalistic career

Six began his journalistic career writing for far-right German newspaper Junge Freiheit, in 2011.[5] Early in his career, Six covered the refugee situation in Europe, spending a month with refugees. His results were published by Junge Freiheit TV: ″The Refugee Deception″.[10]

Syria

Six was arrested in Syria by the Syrian army in December 2012 while working for Junge Freiheit.[11] He was held for 12 weeks under local laws, until he was released after an intervention by Russian diplomats.[12]

Germany

On 2 August 2016, along with British journalist Graham Phillips, Six entered the Berlin office of the investigative journalism organisation Correctiv without permission. In the Correctiv offices, Phillips demanded an interview with Marcus Bensmann, who was investigating Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Upon being refused access to Bensmann, Phillips repeatedly accused Correctiv of lying, shouting "Lying press!", while filming the incident, and refusing to leave. Correctiv called the police, however Phillips and Six evaded them.[13][14]

COVID 19

Six was an open and active coronavirus sceptic, describing the pandemic as 'pure scaremongering'.[15] A Bayern hospital which Six had filmed, making it out to be empty, reportedly filed charges against him for unauthorised filming.[15] Six had several of his videos on the theme removed from YouTube, and he was further criticised by Correctiv for his position on, and reporting on COVID-19.[16]

Apparently having problems in Germany due to his covid activism, Six left for some time to Georgia, where he did videos for his YouTube channel, mostly contrasting the situation in Georgia regarding lockdowns and restrictions, with that of Germany.[17]

Venezuela

In late 2018, Six travelled to Venezuela to report on the ongoing crisis in the county, for his YouTube channel. Six had apparently left Venezuela to go to neighbouring Colombia, and was then arrested as he returned to Venezuela, at an inn in Villa Marina, a beach town located in Los Taques Municipality near Punto Fijo. Six was detained in the intelligence prison of the SEBIN, "El Helicoide" by the Venezuelan secret service DGCIM. He was accused of being a German spy, and before a military court indicted of espionage, rebellion, and violation of security zones. Six, who was denied access to a lawyer, declared in his defence that the charges "were without foundation".[18][19]

Berlin initially gave no comment on the detainment of their citizen. On 13 December 2018, Six began a hunger strike, to draw attention to his situation.[20][21] Six's case attracted much controversy; Reporters Without Borders declared that the allegations were unproven and called for his release.[22][23] Eventually, the Russian government intervened during a meeting of foreign minister Sergiy Lavrov with Venezuelan counterpart Jorge Arreaza at United Nations Conference on Drugs and Crime in Vienna on 14 March 2019.[24][25][26][27] Six was released the next day and on 16 March 2019, he was granted conditional permission to leave the country.The conditions included reporting to authorities in Germany at 15-day intervals and a ban on him speaking about the incident.[22][28]

Ukraine

Billy Six in Ukraine

Six has often reported from Ukraine, in the context of the War in Donbas (2014–2022). He has produced multiple videos on the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) incident, spending extensive time in the crash area, carrying out his own investigative research. Six was interviewed by the BBC in the documentary Conspiracy Files: Who Shot Down MH17 (May 2016).[29] The BBC reported "Six thinks two (Ukrainian) fighter jets shot down MH17 - one firing its cannon, the other firing a missile." He has also given an interview to investigative agency Bellingcat on the theme.[30]

Six's YouTube channel shows that in late 2022 he returned to Ukraine, originally Lviv, asking people what they thought of Ukrainian Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists leader, Stepan Bandera. Six followed this up with a report from the Ukrainian frontlines, interviewing Ukrainian soldiers in what he described as 'Putin's lost battle'.[31]

2023 -

The first part of 2023 saw Six uploading videos to his YouTube channel from Turkey. Six has been inactive on YouTube in the second part of 2023.[17]

Books

See also

References

  1. ↑ "About Billy Six". YouTube.
  2. ↑ https://rsf.org/en/german-journalist-held-venezuela-facing-28-years-prison-spying-charges
  3. ↑ https://cpj.org/2019/03/german-freelancer-billy-six-freed-leaves-venezuela/
  4. ↑ "Reporters without Borders". Journalist. 23 May 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  5. 1 2 "Libysches Bürgerkriegstagebuch XVII". Junge Freiheit. 23 May 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  6. ↑ 18 October 2012 (17 October 2012). "Sicherheit gibt es nirgends". Junge Freiheit. Retrieved 21 April 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ ""Ich hoffe, es gibt Krieg"". Junge Freiheit. 30 September 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  8. ↑ "Die Tragödie wird fortgesetzt". Junge Freiheit. 20 February 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  9. ↑ "Vom Straßenrand auf den Acker". MOZ.de. 19 February 2009. Archived from the original on 19 April 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  10. ↑ "JF-TV: Die Flüchtlingslüge (1)". 4 November 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2017 – via YouTube.
  11. ↑ Koelbl, Susanne (10 March 2013). "SYRIEN: Billy, das Kind – DER SPIEGEL 11/2013". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  12. ↑ "Pressekonferenz mit JF-Reporter Billy Six". Junge Freiheit. 6 March 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  13. ↑ Niewendick, Martin (4 August 2016). "Ungebetener Besuch beim Rechercheverbund "Correctiv"". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  14. ↑ "British blogger Graham Phillips breaks into a German media outlet and prompts a visit from German police". Meduza. 3 August 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
  15. 1 2 Katja Belousova: Rechte Meinungsmacher und Corona. Die Halbwahrheiten des Billy Six, ZDF heute 1 April 2020, retrieved 1 April 2020.
  16. ↑ Till Eckert: Bewertung: größtenteils falsch. Coronavirus: Billy Six filmt angeblich menschenleere Krankenhäuser – ist aber am falschen Ort, Correctiv 3 April 2020, retrieved 6 April 2020.
  17. 1 2 "GEORGIEN: Auswandern, solange es noch geht?! #Staatenlos #Steuerfrei #Ungesumpft - ( D., ENG. )". YouTube.
  18. ↑ "CPJ alarmed by detention of German freelance reporter in Venezuela". 29 November 2018. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
  19. ↑ Gerardo Morón Sánchez (27 November 2018). "Así fue como detuvieron al periodista alemán Billy Six en Paraguaná". Nuevo Día (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 18 March 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  20. ↑ "German journalist held in Venezuela". BBC News. 13 December 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  21. ↑ Schuetze, Christopher F. (14 December 2018). "German Reporter Is Said to Face Espionage Charges in Venezuela". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  22. 1 2 "Nach Freilassung in Venezuela: Deutscher Billy Six auf dem Weg nach Deutschland". Der Spiegel (in German). 17 March 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  23. ↑ "Berlin stays mum on German reporter jailed in Venezuela". DW. 22 December 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  24. ↑ https://tass.com/politics/1050997
  25. ↑ https://www.tt.com/artikel/15454108/lawrow-hat-sich-fuer-freilassung-von-billy-six-stark-gemacht
  26. ↑ https://jungefreiheit.de/politik/deutschland/2019/russischer-aussenminister-lawrow-vermittelte-im-fall-billy-six/
  27. ↑ https://www.nzz.ch/international/deutschland/fall-billy-six-venezuela-laesst-deutschen-reporter-frei-ld.1468017
  28. ↑ "Venezuela releases German journalist Billy Six from jail". Deutsche Welle. 16 March 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  29. ↑ "Conspiracy Files: Who shot down MH17? – BBC News". BBC. 25 April 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  30. ↑ "Billy Six interview". 13 August 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  31. ↑ "Billy Six YouTube Channel)". Retrieved 23 October 2023 – via YouTube.
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