An AfD politician's statement - Detectives check Bystron's residence in Berlin.
During probes into probable money laundering and bribery against Petr Bystron, officials inspected his residence in Berlin on a Thursday, as reported by the German Press Agency. The Munich Prosecutor's Office verified that supplementary searches were executed as part of a case concerning money laundering and bribery, "to collect further information." According to dpa data, the investigators additionally explored other sites in Berlin. The "Spiegel" previously mentioned the incident.
Earlier in May, Bystron's Bundestag office was examined by investigators from Bavaria. The MP from Munich-North is suspected of having obtained money related to the pro-Russian website "Voice of Europe" in order to support Russian concerns in the Bundestag. The latter provided an exemption from immunity for the office search in May.
Bystron refuted the charges at the time and labelled the proceedings as politically inspired. He anticipates the proceedings to cease, "after the election." While the proceedings are still ongoing, the presumption of innocence remains applicable.
Before the investigators in the Bystron affaire must temporarily cease their efforts, Bystron entered the European Parliament. With his status as a fresh EU MP and following his placement second on the AfD's list for the European elections, Bystron now reinstates his immunity.
The investigative processes must therefore end as soon as the federal election officer declares the final official result of the European elections in Germany. The Federal Electoral Council is scheduled to convene on July 3rd to decide the official outcome. If Bystron's immunity is to be abolished by the European Parliament, further investigations may be carried out only following the announcement of the official outcome, potentially taking time.
Bystron has been subjected to criticism for weeks due to the allegations. AfD party leadership petitioned for him to cease involvement in the European election campaign. He earlier claimed that he would not appear in the campaign due to family obligations. However, a few days before the election, he participated in an AfD event in Nuremberg, and currently enters the European Parliament.
In opposition to AfD party leader Maximilian Krah, who won’t be part of the upcoming AfD delegation, Bystron will. AfD co-chairman Tino Chrupalla noted on Monday that Bystron had made an oath in a meeting of the freshly-elected EU MPs that he did not accept any funds and "all accusations are false." Various individuals, including MPs, needed this from him, deemed it necessary.
Bystron condemned the search: "This measure served merely to intimidate. The police broke the door down with an armored vehicle, even though they had learned from the first search that the door could be easily opening. Such are Gestapo tactics, with which thousands of citizens have been disillusioned in the last three years."
