The AfD politician is being investigated because of initial suspicions of bribery and money laundering. Now the party leaders are getting involved.
The AfD chairmen Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla have called on the AfD member of the Bundestag Petr Bystron to refrain from further appearances in the European election campaign. In an email from the AfD federal manager to Bystron it is said that Weidel and Chrupalla had agreed that Bystron should refrain from further appearances as part of the AfD’s European election campaign until the allegations against him or the ongoing investigations against him have been clarified. The ARD capital studio first reported on the email; it is also available to the German Press Agency.
Bystron is in second place on the party’s list for the European elections. On Friday evening he advertised several appearances in the coming days on his Telegram channel, including on Saturday in Deggendorf, Bavaria.
“Proceedings will be closed when the election is over”
The Bundestag lifted Bystron’s immunity on Thursday. Due to initial suspicions of bribery and money laundering, the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office has initiated investigations against him. Bystron himself described the investigation to “Zeit online” as politically motivated. “The proceedings will be stopped when the election is over,” the portal quoted him as saying.
The MP from the Munich-North constituency has been the AfD’s chairman in the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee since 2017. Bystron and AfD European candidate Maximilian Krah have been in the headlines for weeks because of possible connections to pro-Russian networks and possible financial payments.
Source: Stern
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