Alternative for Germany party focuses on European Union funding in new campaign advert - Authorities carry out a search at Bystron's residence in Berlin.
On Thursday, authorities conducted searches at the home of Petr Bystron, an AfD member in the German parliament, as part of an investigation into suspected money laundering and bribery, reports the German Press Agency. The Munich Public Prosecutor's Office confirmed that these actions were part of a larger procedure against these two crimes, stating their goal was to collect more evidence. Besides Bystron's residence, the investigators also searched other locations in Berlin, mentioning that "Spiegel" had previously announced this news.
In May, authorities had searched Bystron's parliamentary office in the Bundestag. Suspected of receiving funds from the pro-Russian portal "Voice of Europe" in exchange for supporting Russia's interests in parliament, they lifted his immunity for the searches. At the time, Bystron denied the allegations and described the event as politically motivated, expecting the procedure to stop "when the election is over." Currently, the presumption of innocence still applies.
Immunity resumed with new European Parliament mandate
Investigations are set to halt in a few weeks, as Bystron, who won a mandate as an AfD MEP in the last European election, now enjoys parliamentary immunity. The federal election officer's announcement of the official result for this election will signal the end of the investigations. However, the Federal Electoral Council will not meet until July 3rd to announce the official result. During this time, Bystron's immunity cannot be lifted by the European Parliament, making further actions impossible—unless he chooses to waive it.
Bystron has faced harsh criticism for weeks following these allegations. The AfD leadership asked him not to participate in the European election campaign, so he retorted that he would not take part in it because of family reasons. Despite this, he attended an AfD meeting in Nuremberg right before the election and is now set to join the European Parliament.
Contrary to the party's top candidate, Maximilian Krah, Bystron will be among the future AfD delegates. Acknowledging this, AfD co-chairman Tino Chrupalla stated on Monday that Bystron had made a sworn statement to his fellow MEPs, asserting that he had not received any money and that all previous statements were false. Some, including MPs, had demanded he do so, and it was necessary, according to him.
Bystron denounced the search: "This action was merely meant to intimidate. The police broke down the door in the morning with a ramming vehicle, even though they knew from the first search that it could be easily broken into. These are methods similar to those used by the Gestapo, deceiving thousands of people in the past three years."
