Billy Six

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Billy Six
Personal information
Born (1986-12-24) 24 December 1986 (age 37)
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]

Life and Career[edit]

Six graduated from high school in Berlin 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, beginning 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, for Junge Freiheit TV.[10]

Syria[edit]

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[edit]

By 2016, Six had reported extensively from Ukraine, including on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.[13] On 2 August 2016, on the theme of MH17, along with British journalist Graham Phillips, Six entered the Berlin office of the investigative journalism organisation Correctiv without permission. In the Correctiv offices, Phillips, accompanied by Six, demanded an interview with Marcus Bensmann, who was investigating MH17. 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.[14][15]

COVID 19[edit]

Six was an open and active coronavirus sceptic, describing the pandemic as 'pure scaremongering'.[16] A Bayern hospital which Six had filmed, making it out to be empty, reportedly filed charges against him for unauthorised filming.[16] 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.[17]

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.[18]

Venezuela[edit]

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 [es], 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".[19][20]

Berlin initially gave no comment on the detainment of their citizen.[21] On 13 December 2018, Six began a hunger strike, to draw attention to his situation.[22][23] Six's case attracted much controversy; Reporters Without Borders declared that the allegations were unproven and called for his release.[24] 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.[25][26][27] Six was released the next day and on 16 March 2019, he was granted conditional permission to leave the country.[28] The conditions included reporting to authorities in Germany at 15-day intervals and a ban on him speaking about the incident.[24][29]

Ukraine[edit]

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 MH17 disaster, 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).[13] 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]

In late 2022, Six returned to Ukraine, making YouTube videos, firstly from 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 Six described as 'Putin's lost battle'. Six then left Ukraine.

As of 2024, Six continues to occasionally post videos on his YouTube channel, from various locations.[31]

Books[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  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. ^ "Journalist Held in Venezuela Facing 28 Years in Prison for Spying". 23 May 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  5. ^ a b "Libysches Bürgerkriegstagebuch XVII". 23 May 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  6. ^ "Sicherheit gibt es nirgends". Junge Freiheit (in German). 17 October 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  7. ^ "Ich hoffe, es gibt Krieg". Junge Freiheit. 30 September 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  8. ^ "Die Tragödie wird fortgesetzt" (in German). 20 February 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  9. ^ "Vom Straßenrand auf den Acker" (in German). 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. ^ "SYRIEN: Billy, das Kind". 10 March 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  12. ^ "Pressekonferenz mit JF-Reporter Billy Six" (in German). 6 March 2013. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  13. ^ a b "Conspiracy Files: Who shot down MH17? – BBC News". 25 April 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  14. ^ Niewendick, Martin (4 August 2016). "Ungebetener Besuch beim Rechercheverbund "Correctiv"" (in German). Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  15. ^ "British blogger Graham Phillips breaks into a German media outlet and prompts a visit from German police". 3 August 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  16. ^ a b Katja Belousova: Rechte Meinungsmacher und Corona. Die Halbwahrheiten des Billy Six, ZDF heute 1 April 2020, retrieved 1 April 2020.
  17. ^ 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.
  18. ^ "GEORGIEN: Auswandern, solange es noch geht?! #Staatenlos #Steuerfrei #Ungesumpft - ( D., ENG. )". YouTube.
  19. ^ "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.
  20. ^ 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.
  21. ^ "Berlin stays mum on German reporter jailed in Venezuela". DW. 22 December 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  22. ^ "German journalist held in Venezuela". 13 December 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  23. ^ "German Reporter Is Said to Face Espionage Charges in Venezuela". 14 December 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  24. ^ a b "Nach Freilassung in Venezuela: Deutscher Billy Six auf dem Weg nach Deutschland" (in German). 17 March 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  25. ^ https://tass.com/politics/1050997
  26. ^ https://www.tt.com/artikel/15454108/lawrow-hat-sich-fuer-freilassung-von-billy-six-stark-gemacht
  27. ^ https://jungefreiheit.de/politik/deutschland/2019/russischer-aussenminister-lawrow-vermittelte-im-fall-billy-six/
  28. ^ https://www.nzz.ch/international/deutschland/fall-billy-six-venezuela-laesst-deutschen-reporter-frei-ld.1468017
  29. ^ "Venezuela releases German journalist Billy Six from jail". 16 March 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  30. ^ "Billy Six interview". 13 August 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  31. ^ "Billy Six YouTube Channel". Retrieved 27 April 2024 – via YouTube.

External links[edit]

  • Media related to Billy Six at Wikimedia Commons
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