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AfD MP Sebastian Münzenmeier: aiding and abetting dangerous bodily harm

Photo: Metodi Popow / IMAGO

At the beginning of the year, research by the “Correctiv” network about a network meeting of right-wing conservative and right-wing extremist politicians caused outrage nationwide. Large demonstrations against fascism followed in many German cities. Now “Correctiv” has published new research into the criminal past of AfD MPs. Accordingly, at least eleven AfD elected officials are convicted violent criminals. Five other party officials are currently being investigated for acts of violence.

According to the information, "Correctiv" has been researching 48 AfD elected officials and employees at district, state and federal levels in the past few weeks who have been noticed for acts of violence in the recent past.

According to the research, 28 of these politicians were convicted by a court at least in the first instance, meaning that some of the judgments are legally binding. Despite this conviction, 14 of them are still active in their political office. These include two members of the Bundestag and three members of the state parliament.

The most important AfD cases

  • The criminals include, among others, the Bundestag members

    Stephan Protschka

    (convicted of insult) and

    Sebastian Münzenmeier

    (convicted of aiding and abetting grievous bodily harm).

  • In a particularly serious case, the district councilor and state chairman of the Junge Alternative in North Rhine-Westphalia,

    Felix Alexander Cassel

    , was convicted of grievous bodily harm. He hit a demonstrator with his car in Bonn.

  • In Saxony-Anhalt, district council member

    Sven Ebert

    was convicted of grievous bodily harm. He kicked a young activist in the stomach and punched her in the face.

  • Berlin district councilor

    Kai Borrmann

    bit a black woman in the arm and hit her. He is convicted of assault and insult.

In total, at least eleven AfD elected officials became physically or verbally violent or aided and abetted violence. Three others were convicted of weapons possession or abuse of office. According to the report, at least five other AfD elected officials are currently being investigated. Most of the verdicts were handed down in the past two years, Correctiv reported.

The cases include physical attacks, verbal violence such as insults or incitement, and indirect violence such as aiding and abetting, possession of weapons or abuse of the monopoly on the use of force by office. From a legal perspective, these are mostly misdemeanors. According to the Criminal Code, these can be punished with a minimum prison sentence or a fine.

Hardly any comparable incidents with other parties

In a direct comparison with other parties, the research platform was unable to find anything similar among the Left or Greens, nor among the CDU/CSU, SPD or FDP. According to the information provided by Correctiv, the AfD federal association did not comment on this, and the 14 convicted AfD elected officials also did not comment or did not comment specifically.

Thorsten Frei (CDU), Parliamentary Managing Director of the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag, told “Correctiv” about politicians who attracted attention with acts of violence: “I personally consider these to be unsuitable for holding public office.” At stake is nothing less than that Trust of citizens in the representatives they have elected. The institutions of parliamentary democracy could be damaged.

According to the report, the preservation of democracy is at stake for left-wing Bundestag member Clara Bünger. “To serve this overriding interest, a tightening of the right to stand for election can be considered,” she said. However, this does not guarantee that anti-democratic people in powerful positions will be excluded.

According to the current legal situation, the right to stand for election only expires if you are convicted of a crime with a prison sentence of at least one year. Examples of crimes include serious bodily harm, sexual abuse, manslaughter, robbery or perjury.

mrc/AFP