Petr Bystron: AfD leaders demand that Bystron abstain from further appearances in the election campaign

AfD chairmen Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla have it AfD member of the Bundestag Petr Bystron asked to refrain from further appearances in the European election campaign. An email from the AfD’s federal manager to Bystron said Weidel and Chrupalla had agreed that Bystron would refrain from further appearances in the European election campaign until the allegations against him or the ongoing investigation against him were cleared up. AfD must abstain. The ARD capital studio first reported about the email on Friday evening.

Bystron is second on the party’s list for the European elections. On Friday evening, he advertised on his Telegram channel several performances in the coming days, including this Saturday in Deggendorf, Bavaria.

The Bundestag had on Thursday Bystron’s immunity has been removed. Due to initial suspicions of bribery and money laundering, the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation against him. Bystron himself described the investigation to ZEIT ONLINE as politically motivated. “The proceedings will be stopped once the elections are over,” he said.

First suspicion of corruption

After the MP’s immunity was lifted, several Bystron buildings in the Bundestag, Bavaria and Mallorca were searched. The search measures had previously been approved by the Bundestag by vote. The AfD faction abstained from voting.

The MP from the Munich-North constituency has been chairman of the AfD in the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee since 2017. Bystron and AfD European top candidate Maximilian Krah are concerned about possible connections to pro-Russian networks and possible financial payments in the news for weeks.