Press
Petr Bystron is at the center of controversy. The AfD leadership is now calling on the candidate for the European elections to stop his campaign appearances.
Berlin – Die AfD-Spitz has asked Petr Bystron to wait for further appearances before the European elections to renounce. This emerges from an email from AfD federal managing director Hans-Holger Malcomeß. It says the AfD chairmen Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla agreed that Bystron should refrain from further appearances in the AfD’s European election campaign until the allegations against him and the ongoing investigations against him have been clarified. About the email had first this ARD-Capital Studio reports that she is also the one German press agency before.
Bystron is number two on the AfD’s European election list. He was in connection with the allegations about the pro-Russian Czech internet portal Voice of Europe hit the headlines. In interviews for the portal, he spread pro-Russia representations. In this context, Bystron is accused of accepting money from Russia. The AfD politician rejects the allegations.
AfD leadership reacts to investigations against Bystron before the European elections
On Thursday (May 16th), the Bundestag lifted Bystron’s immunity. Several rooms in the Bundestag, in Bavaria and on Mallorca were searched. Due to initial suspicions of bribery and money laundering, the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office has initiated investigations against him. Bystron himself described the investigation process time online as politically motivated. “The proceedings will be stopped when the election is over,” the portal quoted him as saying.
On Friday evening, the AfD member of the Bundestag advertised several appearances in the coming days on his Telegram channel. Two of them were supposed to take place on Saturday in Bavaria, for example at 3 p.m. in Deggendorf. When asked, Bystron explained that he had to give up his notebook during the search on Thursday and therefore no longer had access to his email box. However, he is considering refraining from performing.
The MP from the Munich-North constituency has been the AfD’s chairman in the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee since 2017. Bystron and AfD European top candidate Maximilian Krah have been in the headlines for weeks because of possible connections to pro-Russian networks and possible financial payments. (dpa/afp/cs)
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