Opinion
Investigations against Bystron
The next blow for the AfD
The Bavarian AfD member of the Bundestag Petr Bystron at the party conference in Magdeburg in the summer of 2023. There he was elected second on the European election list.
© Ronny Hartmann / AFP
Investigations against Petr Bystron: After this week’s court defeats, the searches on its EU candidate put the AfD even more on the defensive. But the competition shouldn’t get excited too soon.
Now things are getting really serious for Petr Bystron. At the request of the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Bundestag has lifted the AfD MP’s immunity. His Berlin office as well as apartments and offices in Bavaria and Mallorca were searched on Thursday.
The initial suspicion is bribery and money laundering. Again star learned, Bystron is accused of having made a so-called unfair agreement: He is said to have taken pro-Russia positions in votes and speeches in the Bundestag because he was paid to do so.
This direct connection to parliamentary work is legally necessary. According to the previous rules and the case law of the Federal Court of Justice, a member of parliament was only considered bribeable if he accepted money as part of the “exercise of his mandate”.
The relevant paragraph in the criminal code was recently tightened in the wake of the unpunished mask scandals from the Corona period. But the passage probably cannot yet be applied to Bystron because the alleged crime took place a long time ago.
The AfD’s one-hand-on-the-other-hand tactics
Either way, the investigations are the next serious blow for the AfD. Bystron is in second place on the party list for the European elections, which will take place in just over three weeks – behind the top candidate Maximilian Krah, whose employee Jian G. is in custody because he is suspected of spying for China.
The AfD parliamentary group leadership reacted on Thursday with their well-known one-side-on-the-other-hand tactics. On the one hand, this is “a serious process,” said Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla. On the other hand, there is “no evidence for the allegations against Mr. Bystron that have been made for weeks.”
This was followed by the usual whispers about an alleged political conspiracy against the AfD. Weidel and Chrupalla explained that they hope “for a quick conclusion to the investigation.” Otherwise the suspicion could arise “that an attempt is being made to influence the European election campaign by authorities and public prosecutors who are bound by instructions”.
In fact, there is still no publicly available evidence to support the suspicion that Bystron took money from Russian sources. The presumption of innocence applies. But according to consistent information from several independently operating media outlets, the Czech secret service has recordings that prove that the MP received a large sum in cash.
The devastating suspicion of treason
The possible payment was presumably processed via the pro-Russian propaganda platform “Voice of Europe,” to which Bystron gave interviews. Krah also had contact with the medium – which again fits the story that, according to the FBI, he received a message from a pro-Russian activist that spoke of “compensation” for “technical expenses.”
Both politicians vehemently deny any allegations. They say they never accepted money. Bystron even spoke of a “globalist campaign” against himself.
But even the AfD admits that the evidence paints a devastating overall picture. Of all people, the top candidates of the party that acts as the only representative of Germany’s national interests are acutely suspected of serving foreign powers. And the very party that likes to call its competitors “traitors” could have traitors in its front row.
Added to this are the court decisions this week. On Monday, the Münster Higher Administrative Court found that the Office for the Protection of the Constitution had rightly classified the Federal AfD as a so-called suspected case. And on Tuesday, the Halle regional court sentenced Thuringia’s AfD state leader Björn Höcke to a fine because he shouted the SA slogan “Everything for Germany” at a rally.
The central political question now is whether the AfD will get away with its tried and tested victim narratives and conspiracy myths this time too. The surveys at least suggest a cautious no. But only the European and local elections will provide a binding answer. So far, the AfD has survived all the scandals.