The controversial AfD member of parliament Petr Bystron is the top candidate for the European election. The public prosecutor’s office is investigating him. AfD leaders Weidel and Chrupalla are now calling on him to refrain from further appearances in the election campaign.
Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla, the leaders of the AfD, have requested that AfD member of parliament Petr Bystron refrain from further appearances in the European election campaign. In an email from the AfD national managing director to Bystron, it was stated that Weidel and Chrupalla had agreed that Bystron should refrain from further appearances in the AfD’s European election campaign until the allegations against him are clarified or the investigations against him are concluded. The email was first reported by the ARD capital studio on Friday evening and is also available to the German Press Agency. Bystron is on the party’s second list for the European election. On Friday evening, he promoted several appearances in the coming days on his Telegram channel, including one on Saturday in Deggendorf, Bavaria. When asked, Bystron stated that he had to hand over his notebook during the search on Thursday and therefore no longer had access to his email account. However, he is considering refraining from his appearances.
On Thursday, the Bundestag lifted Bystron’s immunity. The General Prosecutor’s Office in Munich has initiated investigations against him on suspicion of bribery and money laundering. Several premises in the Bundestag, Bavaria, and Mallorca were searched. Bystron had spread pro-Russian friendly representations in interviews for the pro-Russian Czech internet portal “Voice of Europe.” According to media reports, he is accused of accepting funds from Russia in this context. Bystron, who represents the Munich-North constituency in the Bundestag, denies the allegations.
He described the investigation to “Zeit online” as politically motivated. “The investigation will be dropped once the election is over,” the portal quoted him. The deputy from the Munich-North constituency has been the spokesman for the AfD in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag since 2017. Bystron and AfD’s European lead candidate Maximilian Krah have been making headlines for weeks due to possible connections to pro-Russian networks and possible payments.
In light of the investigations against him, Bystron is facing pressure from within his own party to step back from his appearances in the European election campaign. The request from AfD leaders Weidel and Chrupalla reflects the concern within the party about the negative impact of the investigation on the upcoming election. Despite asserting his innocence and claiming that the investigation is politically motivated, Bystron is considering refraining from further appearances as pressure mounts. The outcome of the investigation will have significant implications for Bystron’s political future and the AfD’s performance in the European election.
