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AfD: Bundestag lifts MP Gnauck’s immunity

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Vote in Parliament
First Bystron, now Gnauck: Bundestag lifts immunity of another AfD MP

Hannes Gnauck, AfD politician, speaks at a plenary debate in the Bundestag

© Jessica Lichetzki / DPA

The next bad news for the AfD: After the searches on its MP Bystron, another parliamentarian has lost his immunity. The background is still unclear.

He did it first AfD MP Petr Bystron headlines, now the Bundestag has also withdrawn his parliamentary group colleague Hannes Gnauck’s immunity. On Thursday evening, Parliament voted against the AfD’s votes for a corresponding recommendation from the Immunity Committee. In doing so, they granted “authorization to carry out judicial disciplinary proceedings” against the chairman of Junge Alternative.

Gnauck himself expressed outrage. “Now, shortly before the EU elections, for no apparent reason, my immunity will be lifted in order to enable investigations into a procedure that has now been suspended for three years due to my Bundestag mandate,” he explained in a statement from the AfD Brandenburg regional association.

AfD politician Hannes Gnauck: Classified as an “extremist” by the Bundeswehr

Initially nothing was known about the exact background to the Bundestag decision. According to ARD information, it is supposed to be about a disciplinary complaint from Gnauck’s time in the Bundeswehr. Gnauck himself, who was a temporary soldier in the Bundeswehr from 2014 to 2021, only spoke in a written statement about a procedure “that has now been suspended for three years due to my Bundestag mandate” and added: “Since my employment relationship is suspended anyway, the The reason for my waiver of immunity is incomprehensible and extremely questionable.”

Gnauck represents the AfD in the parliamentary defense committee. Politicians from other parties had already sharply criticized this after it became known that the Bundeswehr’s Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) had classified him as an “extremist”. At the time, the MAD “advised him to leave the Junge Alternative” because it was being observed as a suspected case by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, he told the “Märkische Oderzeitung” in August 2021. Since April 2023, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has classified the AfD youth organization as definitely right-wing extremist.

Meanwhile, Gnauck’s party colleague Bystron is being investigated on initial suspicion of bribery and money laundering. That’s why his immunity was lifted on Thursday and his parliamentary office was searched.