German police detained a regional lawmaker of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in a state parliament Wednesday for questioning about a suspected breach of EU export sanctions on Belarus.
A photo in the Bild newspaper showed Joerg Dornau, 56, a businessman and MP for the Moscow-friendly party in the eastern state of Saxony, being led out of the state parliament’s debating chamber.
A little earlier, deputies had voted to strip him of his parliamentary immunity.
Dornau is accused of having exported a vehicular crane to Russia ally Belarus in 2022 and falsely declaring the destination as Kazakhstan, say Leipzig prosecutors.
Customs officers searched his home and vehicles, prosecutors said.
“The searches serve to secure items that may be considered as evidence in the investigation,” prosecutors said.
“There will be no search of the premises of the state parliament or the parliamentary groups,” they added.
The Saxony parliamentary AfD group told AFP it saw no reason why Dornau had to be detained immediately before a parliamentary session, saying that it appeared to have been “staged for media consumption”.
“The allegations against Mr Dornau have been known for a long time,” it added. “These allegations must be clarified as quickly as possible in a fair trial in accordance with the rule of law.”
Under European Union sanctions put into place after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, exports of industrial equipment to Belarus, Russia’s close ally, are heavily restricted.
Dornau was fined over 20,000 euros ($23,617) last August by parliamentary authorities for having failed to disclose his financial interest in a Belarusian onion farm.
In December, German prosecutors said they would not pursue allegations that Dornau had employed political prisoners on the Belarusian farm because was not clear that a crime had been committed.
The AfD is accused of being overly friendly to Moscow, while many inside the party say it is in Germany’s interest to have a good relationship with Russia.
Though no AfD politician has been convicted of spying for Russia, some have been accused of inappropriate links.
Prosecutors in Dresden last year opened an investigation into AfD national MP Maximilian Krah following reports he had taken money from Russia and China during his time as an MEP in the European Parliament.
Krah denies the allegations.
