On Friday, the regional court in Munich ordered Peter Bystroň, MEP for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) a fine of 11,250 euros for the dissemination of a photomontage that gives the impression that the former German Chancellor Angela Merkel is hazing. The court found Bystroň guilty of using the symbols of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations, writes TASR on the basis of a report by the DPA agency.
Bystroň did not participate in Friday’s hearing. He rejected his accusation from the beginning and called the court proceedings a political abuse of justice. The verdict handed down by the court can be challenged within one week. According to German criminal law, this act is punishable by up to three years in prison.
The given photomontage Bystroň published in 2022 after the dismissal of the former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany Andrii Meľnyk, with the description: “Goodbye, Melnyk! German politicians are waving goodbye!”
Petr Bystroň was born in 1972 in Olomouc and grew up in České Těšín. In 1988, he and his mother and stepfather emigrated through Yugoslavia to Germany, where they were granted political asylum. He studied economics and international relations in Munich, and after his studies he founded an advertising agency. In 2017, he successfully ran for the AfD in the elections to the German Bundestag. Since the same year, he has been monitored by the Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution on suspicion of attempts at unconstitutional activity.
Bystroň also faces accusations of money laundering and bribery. when he allegedly accepted money from the pro-Russian news website Voice of Europe to act in favor of Russia in the Bundestag.
Bystroň is not the only AfD MP who was tried for using banned Nazi symbols. Even the chairman of the AfD in the state of Thuringia, Björn Höcke, has already been convicted twice for knowingly quoting the banned slogan “Everything for Germany” in political speeches. It is a slogan used by the SA strike units (Sturmabteilung) belonging to the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP), which played a key role in Adolf Hitler’s rise to power.
