Petr Bystron

Petr Bystron MdB
Bystron in 2020
Member of the European Parliament[1]
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 July 2024
Member of the Bundestag for Bavaria home
In office 24 September 2017 – July 2024
Succeeded by	Manfred Schiller
Personal details
Born	Petr Bystroň (1972-11-30) 30 November 1972 (age 52)[2] Olomouc, Czechoslovakia
Nationality	German
Political party	Alternative for Germany
Other political affiliations	Free Democratic Party (2006–2013)
Alma mater	School of Political Science, Munich
Website	petrbystron.de

Petr Bystron (born 30 November 1972) is a German politician. He is a member of Bundestag since the German federal election in 2017 for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.^[2]

Bystron moved to Germany with his parents in 1987 from the former Czechoslovakia. He was a member of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) from 2006 to 2013.^[3]

In 2017 Bystron was monitored by the Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution because of his close ties to the Identitarian movement. On extreme right-wing PI-News Bystron wrote AfD had to be a „protective shield for this organisation". The German National Security Service named Bystron in his report about the monitoring of AfD as a party with anti-constitutional goals.^[4]

Bystron and Maximilian Krah were elected as the AfD's top candidates for the 2024 European Parliament election in Germany.

Controversy

On 28 March 2024, Czech website Deník N [cs] and German newspaper Der Spiegel reported that Czech Security Information Service suspects that Bystron was also one of the recipients of funds from the pro-Russian Internet network "Voice of Europe" financed by the oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk.^[5][6][7]

In April 2024 the Munich Public Prosecutor's Office initiated preliminary investigations because of possible bribery of elected officials.^[8] According to Die Zeit, Public Prosecuter Office suspected that 20,000 euros were handed over at a meeting between Bystron and employees of Russian propaganda in Prague.^[9] On 3 April, AfD leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla demanded a written explanation from Bystron for the allegations made against him. Maximilian Krah, another top AfD candidate for the European elections called for restraint in Bystron's election campaign.^[10]

The Czech secret service (BIS) informed the Intelligence Committee of the Czech Parliament on 18 April. A Member of Parliament reported to Deník N about a wiretapped conversation between Bystron and the pro-Russian Ukrainian businessman Artem Marchevsky in Prague, during which the BIS bugged Marchevsky's car. At the meeting, money of 20,000 euros was handed over to Bystron. On the tape, Bystron was reportedly heard counting the money.^[11]

The Bundestag lifted his immunity as a member of parliament and the LKA Bavaria carried out searches. Supported by eleven public prosecutors and almost 70 police officers, Bystron's parliamentary office in Berlin as well as properties on Mallorca, in the districts of Munich, Erding and Deggendorf were searched. Third parties who are not accused are also searched. Data carriers were seized “which are now being evaluated with regard to incriminating or exculpatory evidence.”^[12]

Bystron apparently left incriminating evidence with party friends. In the office of the employee of another AfD MP, the police found a roll container from Bystron containing documents proving payments to him. There they found also a list of gold bars and an exposé about a property in Brussels that cost around two million euros. The police also searched Katrin Ebner-Steiner and another AfD politician to find documents from Bystron.^[13]

References

1. "European Parliament – Petr Bystron". European Parliament (in German). Retrieved 24 September 2024.
2. "Deutscher Bundestag – Petr Bystron". Deutscher Bundestag (in German). Retrieved 8 February 2018.
3. "Petr Bystroň ends at the head of the Bavarian AfD organization". Novinky.cz (in Czech). Borgis. Czech News Agency. 14 November 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
4. Meister, Andre; Biselli, Anna; Reuter, Markus (28 January 2019). "Prüffall: Wir veröffentlichen das Verfassungsschutz-Gutachten zur AfD". netzpolitik.org (in German). Retrieved 9 April 2024.
5. Pokorná, Zdislava (28 March 2024). "Deník N a Spiegel: BIS ukázala na německého politika s českými kořeny". Deník N (in Czech). N Media, a. s. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
6. Baumgärtner, Maik; Knobbe, Martin; Müller, Ann-Katrin; Rosenbach, Marcel; Schmid, Fidelius; Wiedmann-Schmidt, Wolf (29 March 2024). "Wie tief steckt die AfD im Russland-Sumpf?". Der Spiegel (in German). Spiegel-Verlag. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
7. "Tschechien meldet Erfolg gegen russische Propaganda". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 7 April 2024.
8. "AfD uneins über Umgang mit Bystron". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 7 April 2024.
9. "Affäre um prorussische Desinformation - Generalstaatsanwaltschaft München nimmt Vorermittlungen im Fall Bystron auf". Die Nachrichten (in German). Retrieved 7 April 2024.
10. Holl, Thomas (4 April 2024). "Die AfD hält Distanz zu Bystron: Auch Krah geht auf Abstand". FAZ.NET (in German). ISSN 0174-4909. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
11. Andrea Becker, Georg Heil und Markus Pohl. "Russische Einflussoperation: Geldübergabe an Bystron im Auto?". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 20 April 2024.
12. "Immunität aufgehoben: Durchsuchung bei AfD-Politiker Bystron". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 16 May 2024.
13. WDR, Petra Blum und Katja Riedel. "Ermittlung wegen Bestechlichkeit: Neue Spuren im Fall Bystron". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 6 June 2024.

External links

• "PetrBystron – Alternative für Deutschland" (in German). Official website