PETER TÄGTGREN Defends DECAPITATED Against Rape Allegation: 'I Think It's A Setup'

Peter Tägtgren has defended DECAPITATED over accusations that the Polish musicians kidnapped and raped a woman on their tour bus nearly three months ago.

The woman alleged she was gang-raped by all four members of DECAPITATED in their tour bus bathroom after the band's August 31 concert at The Pin concert venue in downtown Spokane. The woman said entered the bus for drinks with the band before each member forced themselves on her.

The musicians were arrested on September 9 in Santa Ana, California after performing at the Observatory. They were held in Los Angeles County Jail before being extradited to Spokane, where they were charged with rape and kidnapping.

Tägtgren, a Swedish multi-instrumentalist and producer who toured with DECAPITATED in 2006 as a member of his own death metal outfit HYPOCRISY, was asked about DECAPITATED's legal predicament during a recent interview with KNAC.COM.

"I can't believe this shit. I think it's a setup," Peter said. "I mean, I've known [DECAPITATED guitarist] Vogg [Wacław Kieltyka] for many fucking years; we toured together eleven [years ago]. I mean, he's the only guy who's still in the band since we toured together, but I doubt the other guys would rape someone either, you know?"

Admiting that he really has "no fucking clue what's going on," Peter said that the entire situation "just feels like science fiction," before once again jumping to DECAPITATED's defense.

"Like I said, I really doubt they did it; I think it's a setup somehow," he said. "Some woman is jealous or has some chromosomal problems or something; I don't know. It's just too fishy for me."

DECAPITATED announced in September that it was canceling all previously announced tour dates. The band also publicly denied the accusations.

In a statement released last month, the DECAPITATED members said that the charges against them were pressed "as a procedural formality," adding that "without doing so, [the police] would be forced to release band. This is not a conviction or any indication of guilt or innocence."

The musicians went on to say: "Some facts are indisputable at this point — that the original officer who took the complaint from the accuser stated, 'I do not have probable cause that a rape occurred,' and it's taken a full thirty days to file charges, which is right up against the point at which the defendants would legally have had to be released.

"The band firmly refutes the allegations and are confident that once the facts and evidence have been seen and heard, they will be released and able to return home."