Ex-AfD MP is said to have stolen make-up – punishment order

A fine of 12,000 euros has been issued against ex-AfD MEP Gunnar Beck. A spokesman for the district court in Neuss announced this upon request. According to the Düsseldorf public prosecutor’s office, this involves shoplifting, assault and resistance: Beck is said to have been caught shoplifting in a department store in Neuss near Düsseldorf at the end of October 2022, when he was still a member of the European Parliament.

As a spokeswoman for the Düsseldorf public prosecutor’s office reported, he is said to have used a pipette to transfer make-up products that were available in testers for customers into containers he had brought with him. He is said to have put these and another tester in his backpack so that he could take the items with him without paying.

The public prosecutor said these were items of little value. When he was approached by store detectives, he is said to have injured a detective and also violently resisted a police officer who was called to the scene.

Beck’s lawyer Axel Weimann said he had lodged an objection against the penalty order. This is likely to lead to a court hearing in the matter. However, there is still no date for the hearing, as the court spokesman said.

Because of the matter, the European Parliament again lifted Beck’s immunity as a member of parliament in April last year at the request of the Düsseldorf public prosecutor’s office. At the time, he rejected the allegations as unfounded. Just a few weeks ago, Beck was convicted in the second instance of misusing his title. He described himself as a professor, even though he did not have the title of professor, as he himself later admitted.

In the second instance, the originally imposed fine was converted into a warning with a penalty of 1,200 euros and a probationary requirement of 500 euros. Beck had argued that after leaving the European Parliament he would live on his savings and income from renting and leasing.