European Parliament
AfD MP Gunnar Beck’s immunity lifted
Rejects the allegations as unfounded: AfD politician Gunnar Beck. photo
© Sebastian Willnow/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
Did AfD MEP Gunnar Beck commit crimes in a department store in Neuss? The public prosecutor in Düsseldorf wants to clarify this. The European Parliament is now laying the foundation for this.
The withdrawal of immunity means that nothing formally stands in the way of further investigations against Beck. In Beck’s opinion, the prosecutor’s allegations are unfounded. A majority of MPs voted in Parliament on Thursday to approve the motion to waive immunity.
Specifically, according to the Legal Committee report, Beck is said to have tried to steal product samples in a department store in Neuss in North Rhine-Westphalia on October 29, 2022. Accordingly, a criminal complaint was then filed for shoplifting. Beck also allegedly tried to leave the store and was detained by store detectives. Enforcement officers then intervened. Beck did not follow orders not to resist, the report said, citing investigators in Germany. The public prosecutor’s office in Düsseldorf initially did not provide any further details upon request.
Not a professor: guilty verdict in 2022
At the request of the German Press Agency, Beck said: “The accusations made by the public prosecutor’s office are unfounded.” The proceedings were originally discontinued, but “a change of responsibility in the case processing for political reasons led to it being reopened.” The Legal Affairs Committee’s report is prejudicial. “I am calm about due process,” said the AfD politician.
In 2022, the AfD MEP was sentenced to a fine of 9,200 euros for misusing his title. He introduced himself as a professor in Germany. The district court in Neuss found the 58-year-old guilty almost two years ago. Beck had previously admitted that he had said during an appearance before an AfD representative meeting in Magdeburg in 2018: “I am a professor and specialist lawyer for EU law in London.” But he didn’t mean to claim that he had a professorship, Beck argued.
Another AfD MEP also had his immunity revoked during this legislative period. The background was controversial statements by Nicolaus Fest about the Green politician Volker Beck. He reported Fest because Fest had described him as a “notorious liar and pedophile” on X (formerly Twitter) in September 2021.