The Immunity Committee of the German Bundestag has decided: Hannes Gnauck – the chairman of the Junge Alternative and AfD member of the Bundestag – will also have his immunity revoked. This is confirmed by the AfD parliamentary group spokesman for the SZ. “It’s obviously still about his time in the Bundeswehr. I haven’t found out more about it yet,” says the spokesman.
The 32-year-old former Bundeswehr soldier has been a member of the Bundestag since 2021. He entered parliament via his party’s Brandenburg state list and represents the Uckermark-Barnim I constituency. According to ARD information, the reason for the waiver of immunity is said to have been a disciplinary complaint from his time in the Bundeswehr. Gnauck represents the AfD on the Defense Committee. Politicians from other parties sharply criticized this because it became known that the Bundeswehr’s Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) had classified the former soldier as an “extremist”.
Opinion
:The Teflon test
So far, all allegations seem to have been directed at the AfD’s top candidate, Maximilian Krah. But now new evidence could lead him into unprecedented difficulties.
Gnauck himself says he has nothing to blame himself for
The politician himself commented on the allegations and the proceedings in the evening and said that he had fallen victim to “a campaign against the AfD that has been raging for weeks”. Weeks ago, he offered Bundestag President Bärbel Bas to lift his immunity in order to clear up allegations. Bas let him know at the time that this step was not necessary. Now, shortly before the European Parliament elections, his immunity will be lifted “for no apparent reason” in order to enable investigations into proceedings that have been dormant for three years. “The false portrayal of opposition politicians as corrupt or criminal is obviously intended to worsen the AfD’s results. This approach is damaging to democracy and the rule of law,” explained the politician. He has nothing to blame himself for and will wait for the results of the investigation.
Gnauck is a member of the Defense Committee. As a deputy member, he is a member of the 1st Committee of Inquiry (Afghanistan), the Subcommittee on United Nations, International Organizations and Civilian Crisis Prevention and the Committee on Labor and Social Affairs. In autumn 2023, the AfD MP failed in his candidacy for Vice President of the Bundestag.
Second immunity waiver in one day
On the same day, Gnauck’s party colleague Petr Bystron was also stripped of his immunity. He is being investigated on initial suspicion of bribery and money laundering. Therefore, his parliamentary office and other properties were searched. The politician is suspected of having accepted money from Russia. The Dresden Public Prosecutor’s Office also has a case against the AfD’s top candidate for the European elections, Maximilian Krah Preliminary investigations initiated into possible payments from Russia and China. In addition, Krah’s long-time employee Jian G. was arrested – he is said to have spied for China. Meanwhile, the AfD party youth are considered to be right-wing extremist – the classification was made in April 2023. A lawsuit against this decision is pending at the Higher Administrative Court in Münster.