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AfD leader Weidel: Exonerated of plagiarism allegations
Photo: Uwe Anspach / dpa
After allegations of plagiarism against AfD leader Alice Weidel regarding her doctoral thesis, the University of Bayreuth does not see enough evidence for further examination.
According to the Commission for Scientific Integrity, there were isolated citation errors in the work, the university has now announced.
However, these passages were not sufficient to prove grossly negligent or intentional scientific misconduct.
"There is a single-digit number of passages in which textbook knowledge is reproduced," said the university.
The committee therefore unanimously decided on Wednesday not to initiate main proceedings in the case to examine the allegations.
The university announced in December 2023 that it was investigating “suspicion of plagiarism” after the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reported that two plagiarism detectors had contacted the university.
Accordingly, the two accused Weidel of not or insufficiently identifying the sources of individual passages, coherent sentences or sentence fragments in their doctoral thesis from 2011, which was awarded summa cum laude.
The thesis deals with the pension system of the People's Republic of China.
Weidel: “I never had any doubts”
After speaking in December of a campaign against her personally in view of the relatively high AfD poll numbers, Weidel said on Thursday that she would like to thank everyone involved "for the thorough and comprehensive review."
The University of Bayreuth “acted very quickly and calmly,” said Weidel, who is also the parliamentary group leader of her party in the Bundestag.
»I never had any doubt that the fabricated plagiarism allegations would collapse like a house of cards.«
aeh/AFP/dpa