Should withdraw from the EU election campaign
AfD leadership moves away from Bystron
April 5, 2024, 1:53 a.m
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By the afternoon, the AfD leaders are demanding an explanation from their European election candidate Bystron about suspected payments from Russia. Although he protests his innocence, the party leadership tells him that he should stay away from the rest of the election campaign.
In the affair surrounding allegedly accepted funds from Russia, the AfD leadership suggested AfD member of the Bundestag and European election candidate Petr Bystron to withdraw from the current European election campaign. Since Bystron can no longer be removed from the AfD’s electoral list for the European Parliament, he should also be forced to give up his mandate after the election if he cannot dispel the allegations, the “Bild” newspaper reported, citing party circles.
The AfD leadership had given Bystron a deadline of 2 p.m. on Thursday to eliminate the corruption allegations. The party and parliamentary group leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla had requested a written statement from Bystron. It’s about “dispelling all allegations beyond doubt and allowing our party’s federal executive board to react accordingly.”
In the letter to Bystron, Weidel and Chrupalla pointed out that several allegations had been made against him by various media in connection with the Czech portal “Voice of Europe”. Reports in “Spiegel” and the Czech newspaper “Denik N” say that Bystron received money from a pro-Russian network connected to the portal.
AfD top candidate Krah: “I feel sorry for him”
Bystron denied the allegations. “At no time did I receive any money payments or cryptocurrencies from an employee of ‘Voice of Europe’ (or any Russian),” the newspaper “Welt” quotes from Bystron’s statement on the allegations. The MP with Czech roots is running for second place on the AfD list in the European elections in June and has been a member of the Bundestag since 2017. Since then he has sat on the Foreign Affairs Committee.
The AfD’s top candidate for the European elections, Maximilian Krah, told “Bild” that he no longer wanted to appear with Bystron in the election campaign: “Peter and I are old political companions and friends. I really feel sorry for him right now: there are accusations in the room , against which he cannot defend himself because he does not know the evidence. But he has to sort it out first.” Until that happens, “it would be unwise for me to appear with him,” said Krah.