The European Parliament lifted the immunity of the German MEP Gunnar Beck from the far-right party “Alternative for Germany&rdquo ; in connection with accusations of shoplifting and resisting police officers, reported DPA, quoted by BTA.
The request by the prosecutor's office in Dusseldorf, Germany, was accepted with the necessary majority in the EP, allowing the subsequent investigation against Beck to begin.
A report by the parliamentary legal committee said the German politician was being investigated for willful bodily harm, resisting police and theft of items of low value.
According to the report, Beck attempted to steal samples from a department store in Neuss, Germany, in October 2022. Criminal charges were subsequently filed.
Beck is said to have tried to leave the store and was detained by security. The police subsequently intervened. The EP report claims, citing investigators in Germany, that Beck resisted store security.
The prosecutor's office in Dusseldorf did not provide additional information when asked by DPA, and Beck said the accusations were baseless. The German politician tells the German agency that the case was closed but was then reopened for political reasons.
DPA recalls that in 2022 Beck was fined 9,200 euros for abuse of an official academic position after posing as a “professor”.